/  c 

LIBRARY  OF  THE  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

PRINCETON,   N.  J. 

Presented  by 

BR  306  .S3 

Sanford,  Elias  B.  b.  1843. 

A  history  of  the  reformatio] 


4^\y^.jL^^ 


/J 


^ 


A   HISTORY 

OF  THE 

REFORMATION 


ELIAS  B.  SANFORD,  D.D. 

Honorary  Secretary  oj  the  Federal  Council 
of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America 


THE  S.  S.  SCRANTON  COMPANY 

HARTFORD,  CONN. 


Copyrigh':   19 17  by 
E.  B.  Sanford. 


This  Volume 
Is 

Al^FECTlONATELY   INSCRIBED 

To  My  Friends, 

In  Every  Part  oe  the  United  States,  With  Whom 
For  Many  Years  I  Was  Engaged  in  Work  that  Laid 
THE  Foundation  and  Organized  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil OE  THE  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  Repre- 
senting A  Communicant  Membership  oe  Nearly 
Eighteen  Millions  and  Tracing  Their  Origin  to 
the  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 


Ill 


PREFACE. 

Since  the  day,  in  boyhood,  when  I  discovered  in  my 
father's  library  D'Aubigne's  ''History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion," the  era  of  the  Protestant  Revokition  has  been  a 
favorite  field  of  reading  and  study.  A  concise  narrative, 
of  necessity,  abbreviates  many  important  details  and  can 
give  but  little  space  to  many  individual  workers  who  ren- 
dered fruitful  aid  in  their  day  and  generation.  I  trust, 
however,  that  I  have  omitted  nothing  essential  to  a  clear 
understanding  of  the  great  movement  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century  that  changed  the  history  of  Christianity  and  the 
world. 

The  amount  of  literature  that  has  come  from  the  press 
regarding  the  Reformation  is  enormous.  The  work  and 
life  of  Luther  have  been  the  storm  centre  of  discussion 
that  has  continued  during  the  past  four  centuries.  Even 
in  recent  years  the  great  Reformer  has  been  made  the  ob- 
ject of  malignant  assaults  that  have  made  as  little  im- 
pression on  candid  and  thoughtful  scholars  as  the  wrath- 
ful waves  that  break  upon  the  rock  foundations  of 
Gibralter. 

Luther,  Calvin,  Zwingli,  and  Knox,  the  four  great 
leaders  of  the  Reformation,  in  their  personality  and  work, 
loom  larger  with  the  passing  centuries  because  the  prin- 
ciples for  which  they  contended  had  in  them  the  seed 
truth  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  Never  losing  sight  of  the 
providential  preparation  that  led  up  to  the  incident,  we 
may  well  make  the  October  afternoon  in  15 17,  when  Lu- 
ther affixed  his  Theses  on  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg, 
the  opening  of  a  new  era  in  the  world's  history.     From 

V 


vi  Preface. 

that  hour  until  now,  the  Christ  inspired  principles  of 
democracy,  unfolded  in  the  New  Testament,  have  faced 
the  forces  of  autocracy  and  imperialism  entrenched  in 
Church  and  State.  The  end  is  not  yet,  but  through  the 
awful  storm  clouds,  out  of  which  lightning  strokes  have 
brought  millions  of  men  to  an  untimely  death,  gleams  of 
light  break  over  the  horizon.  In  these  epoch  making 
years  when  allied  nations,  as  never  before,  are  lifting  up 
the  ideals  of  democracy  and  brotherhood,  we  do  well  to 
recall  the  story  of  the  Reformation.  Many  who  have 
prayerfully  pondered  over  the  question,  why  such  sacri- 
fice of  blood  and  treasure  should  be  required,  now  see 
that  the  agonies  of  the  Inquisition  and  the  fires  of  Smith- 
field  presaged  the  consecration  of  martyr  hosts  who  in 
the  Twentieth  Century  have  given  their  lives  on  the  altar 
of  Freedom. 

Christian  democracy  stands  for  an  open  Bible ;  liberty 
of  thought  and  conscience,  and  the  separation  of  Church 
and  State.  The  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Century 
was  in  its  spirit  and  ideals  the  renaissance  of  the  early 
Church.  In  the  lands  beyond  Germany  this  social,  politi- 
cal, as  well  as  religious  upheaval,  gave  birth  to  modern 
democracy  whose  record  is  found  in  the  history  of  the 
Huguenot  struggle  in  France ;  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch 
Republic ;  Puritan  England,  and  the  founding  of  this 
United  States. 

This  history  has  an  important  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  Christian  unity  and  Church  unity.  Democracy 
and  autocracy  cannot  find  a  common  standing  ground  for 
organized  union.  They  build  upon  principles  that  are  so 
dissimilar  that  one  or  the  other  must  be  discarded  in  lay- 
ing foundations.     Autocracy,  in  Church  and  State,  has 


Preface.  vii 

been  brought  to  the  bar  of  judgment  and  found  wanting. 
Civih'zation  and  Christianity  have  suffered  immeasurable 
loss  by  the  selfish  and  arrogant  demands  of  imperialism. 
The  titanic  struggle  of  these  days  bears  testimony  that 
Christian  democracy  and  brotherhood  represent  the  hope 
of  Church  and  State.  They  stand  for  truths  that  lie  at 
the  heart  of  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  in  so  far  as  they  prevail  in  the  life  of  the  natxn, 
the  family,  and  the  individual,  the  promise  of  the  Risen 
Lord  and  Saviour  of  mankind,  will  be  fulfilled.  *'Lo  I 
am  with  you  to  the  end  of  the  world." 


CONTENTS. 

PART  I. 
Chapt^  I. 

PACE 

Church  History  Before  the  Reformation,   i 

Protestants  of  Medieval  Times, 6 

Waldenses, 8 

Chapter  11. 

Franciscan  and  Domenican  Orders,  *. ii 

English  Forerunners  of  the  Reformation, 13 

John  Wiclif,   17 

Chapter  III. 

John  Huss,  27 

Moravian  Brethren, 31 

Chapter  IV. 

Social  and  Political  Conditions  in  Sixteenth  Century,  ZZ 

Chapter  V. 

The  Oxford  Reformers, 40 

John  Colet,   43 

Desiderius  Erasmus,    45 

Thomas  More, 50 

Chapter  VI. 

Martin  Luther, 54 

Boyhood  and  Student  Days,  54 

Monastic  Life  and  Spiritual  Experiences,   62 

Professor  at  Wittenberg,  67 

Chapter  VII. 

Promulgation  of  Theses  Against  Indulgences,  77 

ix 


X  ,  Contents. 

Chapter  VIII. 

PAGE 

Opening  Conflict  Vv  ith  Rome, 82 

Crisis  Years  in  Life  of  Luther,  84 

Chapter  IX. 

Luther's  Break  With  Rome 92 

Chapter  X. 
Burning  of  the  Pope's  Bull,  loi 

Chapter  XI. 
Luther  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  ig6 

Chapter  XII. 
Beginning  of  the  Storm  of  Revolution, 116 

Chapter  XIIL 
The  Peasants'  War,   125 

Chapter  XIV. 

Diet  of  Speyer,  134 

Origin  of  Term  'Trotestant,"  137 

Chapter  XV. 

Diet  of  Augsburg,  142 

Augsburg   Confession,    143 

Schmaldkald  League,    145 

Chapter  XVI. 

Closing  Years  in  Luther's  Life, 149 

Reformation  in  Denmark,  Norway,   Iceland,   Sweden,  and 

Other-  Countries,    156 


Contents.  xi 

PART  11. 
Chapter  I. 

PAGE 

The  Reformation  During  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII., i6i 

Chapter  II. 

The  Reformation  in  England  from  the  Closing  Years  of 
the  Reign  of  Henry  VIII.  Until  the  Accession  of  Eliza- 
beth,           175 

Chapter  III. 

The  Reformation  in  England  During  the  Reign  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,    191 

Chapter  IV. 

The  Reformation  in  Scotland,  201 

Chapter  V. 

The  Reformation  in  Switzerland.  Zwingli  and  Oecolam- 
padius,    209 

Chapter  VI. 

The  Reformation  in  Geneva  Under  John  Calvin,  217 

Chapter  VII. 

The  Reformation  in  France,  238 

Chapter  VIII. 

The  Reformation  in  the  Netherlands,  246 

Chapter  IX. 

The  Home  Life  of  Euther,  Calvin,  Zwingli,  and  Knox, 262 

Chapter  X. 

Historical  Relation  of  the  Protestant  Churches  of  the 
United  States  to  the  Reformation,  269 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Dr.  Thomas  M.  Lindsay's  A  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, 2  vols.  (1906-7),  is  the  best  and  most  comprehensive 
work.  7^he  Reformation,  by  Professor  George  P.  Fisher 
(1873),  still  holds  a  place  among  standard  histories;  it 
furnishes  in  the  Appendix  an  exhaustive  list  of  works  in 
general  history  relating  to  the  period  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. Luther  in  Light  of  Recent  Research  (1916),  by 
Heinrich  Bohmer,  of  Marburg  University,  translated  by 
Carl  F.  Huth,  Jr.,  of  University  of  Chicago,  is  interest- 
ing and  helpful;  Conversations  With  Luther  (1915), 
translated  and  selected  by  Preserved  Smith,  Ph.D.,  and 
Herbert  Percival  Gallinger,  Ph.D.,  gives  choice  selec- 
tions from  his  famous  "Table  Talk."  To  those  who  wish 
to  secure  a  brief  but  admirable  summary  of  the  theo- 
logical views  of  Luther,  Melanchthon,  Zwingli,  and  Cal- 
vin, we  commend  Professor  Arthur  Cushman  McGif- 
fert's  Protestant  Thought  Before  Kant  (1911). 


xni 


PART  I. 

Fore:runners  o^  the  Reformation. 
Martin  Luther  and  the  Reformation  in  Germany. 


CHAPTER.  I. 

The  Centuries  Before  the  Reformation.    The  Prot- 
estants OF  Medievae  Times.    The  Waldensians. 

Four  hundred  years  ago  (October  31,  1517)  the  city  of 
Wittenberg,  fifty-five  miles  southwest  from  BerHn,  the 
capital  of  Germany,  was  the  scene  of  an  epoch  making 
incident  in  the  world's  history.  The  principal  street  of 
the  city  follows  the  windings  of  the  river  Elbe,  and  on 
this  autumn  day  was  filled  with  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren who  were  anticipating  and  preparing  for  the  cele- 
bration on  the  morrow  of  the  feast  of  All  Saints.  The 
beautiful  church,  recently  erected  by  Frederick  of  Saxony, 
was  the  special  centre  towards  which  the  people  directed 
their  steps.  At  great  expense  the  Elector  had  gathered 
from  many  lands  sacred  relics  that  were  placed  in  gold 
and  silver  cases  adorned  with  precious  stones.  Every 
pilgrim,  from  the  lowliest  peasant  to  the  proudest  noble, 
who  looked  with  superstitious  awe  upon  these  relics  and 
confessed  his  sins,  obtained  full  forgiveness.  No  wonder 
the  aisles  of  the  Palace  church  were  crowded. 

The  October  day  was  drawing  to  a  close  when  a  sturdy 
young  priest  strode  along  the  street  holding  in  his  hand 
a  hammer  and  a  roll  of  manuscript.  It  was  not  an  un- 
common scene.  The  university  of  the  city  and  the  church 
were  closely  related  and  important  announcements  were 
frequently  posted  on  its  entrance  door.  But  we  can  im- 
agine that  the  drama  we  are  witnessing  was  one  that  at- 
tracted special  interest.  Then,  as  always,  Martin  Luther 
was  a  man  of  that  physical  and  intellectual  distinction 


2  Th^  Re:?ormation. 

that  compels  attention  from  the  passing  crowd,  but  in 
Wittenberg  he  was  already  regarded  by  every  dweller  in 
its  homes  with  affectionate  awe  and  respect.  The  story 
of  his  early  life  and  the  brilliant  career  in  scholarship 
that  had  brought  him  in  his  thirty-fifth  year  to  his  pres- 
ent position  as  professor  of  theology,  was  known  to  most 
of  them.  But  there  were  other  reasons  that  had  already 
made  this  sturdy  young  priest  a  man  of  destiny  and  hope 
in  the  eyes  of  some,  whose  gaze  followed  him  as  he  nailed 
his  manuscript  upon  the  door  of  the  church.  Already 
his  fame  as  an  eloquent  preacher  was  spread  abroad  in 
every  part  of  Saxony.  Even  Rome  had  learned  of  the 
new  voice  that  had  denounced  the  sins  and  corruptions  of 
the  papal  court.  Martin  Luther,  from  the  student  days 
when  he  won  high  distinction  as  a  brilliant  scholar,  had 
early  attracted  the  attention  of  men  holding  high  official 
positions.  Their  mandate,  strengthened  by  the  petition 
of  admiring  teachers,  had  bestowed  upon  him  a  place  of 
high  distinction  and  responsibility  as  professor  in  the 
university  that  owed  its  existence  to  the  beloved  Elector 
of  Saxony,  who  became  the  stalwart  supporter  and  close 
friend  of  the  man  whom  the  centuries  were  to  number 
among  the  world's  great  leaders  and  reformers.  His 
life  and  work  has  a  commanding  place  in  the  unfolding  of 
this  story  of  the  Protestant  Reformation,  but  there  had 
been  a  long  providential  preparation  before  he  came  to 
power  and  leadership. 

Every  great  movement  that  changes  the  currents  of 
history  has  back  of  its  era  of  triumphant  victories  a  long 
record  of  preparatory  history.  The  centuries  that  inter- 
vened between  the  day  of  Pentecost  and  the  time  when 


The:  EarIvY  Church.  3 

Leo  X.  ascended  the  papal  throne  lead  us  on  a  long  and 
often  sad  and  dreary  journey.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
cover  a  brief  period  that  in  its  spiritual  and  ecclesiastical 
life  discloses  the  simplicity  that  marked  the  character 
and  work  of  the  Divine  Founder  of  Christianity.  The 
Apostolic  age  was  followed  by  two  centuries  in  which 
dogmatic  discussions  rent  the  infant  Church  as  it  entered 
upon  days  of  bitter  persecution  in  which  were  given  to 
a  pagan  world  the  witness,  even  unto  death,  of  a  martyr 
host. 

It  is  in  this  period,  as  Dean  Stanley  tells  us,  that  we 
find  the  clue  and  answer  to  some  of  the  great  questions 
of  ecclesiastical  history.^ 

"How  was  the  transition  effected  from  the  age  of  the 
Apostles  to  the  age  of  the  Fathers,  from  Christianity  as 
we  see  it  in  the  New  Testament  to  Christianity  as  we 
see  it  in  the  next  century,  and  as,  to  a  certain  extent,  we 
have  seen  it  ever  since? 

'*No  other  change  equally  momentous  has  ever  since 
affected  its  fortunes,  yet  none  has  ever  been  so  silent  and 
secret.  The  stream  in  that  most  critical  moment  of  its 
passage  from  the  everlasting  hills  to  the  plains  below, 
is  lost  to  our  view  at  the  very  point  where  we  are  most 
anxious  to  watch  it ;  we  may  hear  its  struggles  under 
the  overarching  rocks ;  we  may  catch  its  spray  on  the 
boughs  that  overlap  its  course;  but  the  torrent  itself  we 
see  not,  or  see  only  by  imperfect  glimpses.  It  is  not  so 
much  a  period  for  ecclesiastical  history  as  for  ecclesias- 
tical controversy  and  conjecture.     A  fragment  here,  an 

^Introductory  lecture  on  "The  History  of  the  Eastern  Church." 
I  am  confident  my  readers  will  thank  me  for  quoting  at  length 
this  lucid  and  masterly  statement. 


4  The  Rkformation. 

allegory  there ;  romances  of  unknown  authorship ;  a 
handful  of  letters  of  which  the  genuineness  of  every  por- 
tion is  contested  inch  by  inch ;  the  summary  examination 
of  a  Roman  magistrate;  the  pleadings  of  two  or  three 
Christian  apologists ;  customs  and  opinions  in  the  very 
act  of  change ;  last  but  not  least,  the  faded  paintings, 
the  broken  sculptures,  the  rude  epitaphs  in  the  darkness 
of  the  catacombs — these  are  the  scanty,  though  attrac- 
tive, materials  out  of  which  the  likeness  of  the  early 
Church  must  be  reproduced,  as  it  was  working  its  way, 
in  the  literal  sense  of  the  word,  'under  ground,'  under 
camp  and  palace,  under  senate  and  forum — 'as  unknown, 
yet  well  known :   as  dying,  and  behold  it  lives.' 

"This  chasm  once  cleared,  we  find  ourselves  approach- 
ing the  point  where  the  story  of  the  Church  once  more 
becomes  history — becomes  once  more  the  history,  not  of 
an  isolated  community,  or  of  isolated  individuals,  but  of 
an  organized  society  incorporated  with  the  political  sys- 
tems of  the  world.  Already,  in  the  close  of  the  Second 
and  the  beginning  of  the  Third  Century,  the  Churches  of 
Africa,  now  seen  for  a  few  generations  before  their  final 
disappearance,  exhibit  distinct  characters  on  the  scene. 
They  are  the  stepping-stones  by  which  we  cross  from  the 
obscure  to  the  clear,  from  chaos  to  order.  Of  these  the 
Church  of  Carthage  illustrates  the  rise  of  Christianity  in 
the  West,  the  Church  of  Egypt  that  of  Christianity  in  the 
East. 

"Another  and  a  wider  sphere  was  in  store  for  the  prog- 
ress of  the  Church  than  in  its  own  native  regions ;  another 
and  a  nobler  conquest  than  that  of  its  old  worn-out  enemy 
on  the  tottering  throne  of  the  Caesars.  The  Gothic  tribes 
descended  on  the  ancient  world :   the  fabric  of  civilized 


The:  Church  of  the:  Middle:  Age:s.  5 

society  was  dissolved  in  the  mighty  crisis ;  the  fathers  of 
modern  Europe  were  to  be  moulded,  subdued,  educated. 
By  whom  was  this  great  work  effected  ?  Not  by  the  Em- 
pire— it  had  fled  to  the  Bosphorus ;  not  by  the  Eastern 
Church — its  permanent  conquests  were  in  another  direc- 
tion. In  the  Western,  Latin,  Roman  clergy,  in  the  mis- 
sionaries who  went  forth  to  Gaul,  to  Britain,  and  to  Ger- 
many, the  barbarians  found  their  first  masters ;  in  the 
work  of  controlling  and  resisting  the  fierce  soldiers  of  the 
Teutonic  tribes  lay  the  main  work,  the  real  foundation, 
the  chief  temptation  of  the  Papacy.  From  the  day  when 
Leo  IIL  placed  the  crown  of  the  new  Holy  Roman  Ger- 
man Empire  on  the  head  of  Charlemagne,  the  stream  of 
human  progress  and  the  stream  of  Christian  life,  with 
whatever  interruptions,  eddies,  counter-currents,  flowed 
during  the  next  seven  centuries  in  the  same  channel.  As 
the  history  of  the  earlier  stages  revolved  round  the  char- 
acters of  the  Fathers  or  of  the  Emperors,  so  the  history 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  with  all  their  crimes  and  virtues, 
revolved  (it  is  at  once  the  confession  of  their  weakness 
and  their  strength)  round  the  character  and  the  policy 
of  the  Popes.  What  good  they  did,  and  what  good  they 
failed  to  do,  by  what  means  they  rose,  and  by  what  they 
fell,  during  that  long  period  of  their  power,  form  the 
main  questions  by  which  their  claims  must  be  tested. 

*'And  now  a  new  revolution  was  at  hand,  almost  as 
terrible  in  its  appearance  and  as  trying  in  its  results  as 
any  that  had  gone  before.  The  fountains  of  the  great 
deep  were  again  broken  up.  New  wants  and  old  evils 
had  met  together.  The  failures  of  the  Crusades  had 
shaken  men's  belief  in  holy  places.  Long  abuses  had 
shaken  their  belief  in  Popes,  bishops,  monasteries,  sac-- 


6  The:  Rk^ormation. 

raments,  and  saints.  The  revival  of  ancient  learning  had 
revealed  truth  under  new  forms.  The  invention  of  print- 
ing had  raised  up  a  nev^  order  of  scribes,  expounders, 
readers,  writers,  clergy.  Institutions  which  had  guided 
the  world  for  a  thousand  years,  now  decayed  and  out 
of  joint,  gave  way  at  the  moment  when  they  were  most 
needed.  Was  it  possible  that  the  Christian  Church 
should  meet  these  trials  as  it  had  met  those  which  had 
gone  before?  It  had  lived  through  the  fall  of  Jerusalem ; 
it  had  lived  through  the  ten  persecutions ;  it  had  lived 
through  its  amalgamation  with  the  Empire ;  it  had  lived 
through  the  invasion  of  the  barbarians ;  but  could  it  live 
through  the  struggles  of  internal  dissolution?  Could  it 
live  through  the  shipwreck  of  the  whole  outward  fabric 
of  its  existence?  Could  the  planks  of  the  vessel,  scat- 
tered on  the  face  of  the  raging  flood,  be  so  put  together 
again  as  to  form  any  shelter  from  the  storm,  any  home  on 
the  waters?  Did  the  history  of  the  Church  come  to  an 
end,  as  many  thought  it  would,  when  its  ancient  organ- 
ization came  to  an  end,  in  the  great  change  of  the  Refor- 
mation ?" 

These  questions  find  answer  in  the  four  hundred  years 
of  Protestant  Church  history  that  have  come  and  gone 
since  that  October  afternoon  when  Martin  Luther,  the 
monk  of  Erfurt  and  teacher  of  theology,  nailed  his 
theses  regarding  indulgences  upon  the  church  door  at 
Wittenberg. 

In  the  centuries  that  followed  the  decline  and  fall  of 
the  Roman  Empire  we  must  not  forget  the  forces  repre- 
sented in  the  homes  that  in  the  daily  struggle  for  bread 
sheltered  the  untold  millions  of  men,  women,  and  youth 
who  dwelt  in  the  cities  and  tilled  the  fields  of  sunny 


Thk  Middi^e:  Age:s.  7 

Italy.  A  life  among  the  ruins  of  an  imperial  civilization 
that  tradition  and  surroundings  still  kept  in  mind.  The 
barbarous  hordes  that  came  out  of  the  German  forests 
and  that  crossed  the  channel  from  Britain  found  their 
conquering  way  to  Rome  along  the  magnificent  highways 
that  the  Empire,  in  the  days  when  Christ  was  born  in 
Bethlehem  of  Judea,  had  built  as  a  mighty  network  bind- 
ing its  every  part  into  a  unity  of  imperial  power. 

In  the  order  of  Providence  it  was  out  of  this  rough 
hewn  material  of  German,  Anglo-Saxon,  and  Gaulish 
ancestry  that  Christianity  was  to  build  the  fabric  of  civil- 
ization that  arose  in  the  Middle  Ages.  If  one  dwells 
alone  upon  the  corruption  that  gradually  festered  in  the 
papal  court;  if  the  strife  for  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
power  that  brought  the  Church  into  conflict  where  Christ 
and  His  Truth  were  wounded  and  trampled  upon  by  the 
ambition  and  selfish  aims  and  purposes  of  godless  popes 
and  emperors,  overshadow  every  other  form  of  life  and 
activity,  we  shall  form  a  most  erroneous  conception  of 
the  years  that  were  indeed  marked  by  such  error  in  doc- 
trinal belief  and  such  ignorance  and  superstitious  fears 
that  they  have  been  sometimes  marked  in  the  annals  of 
history  as  the  dark  ages.  But  the  Light  was  by  no  means 
entirely  lost.  What  traveler  from  the  New  World,  then 
unknown  to  the  dwellers  of  Europe,  ever  trod  the  aisles 
of  the  great  cathedrals  erected  in  the  Middle  Age  without 
feeling  that  every  spire  and  altar  and  window  is  a 
silent  witness  to  the  faith  that  through  Him,  "who  for  us 
men  and  our  salvation  came  down  from  heaven,"  sus- 
tained and  gave  strength  and  peace  to  untold  multitudes 
in  the  centuries  that  preceded  the  Reformation? 


8  Thk  Reformation. 

In  the  rise  of  the  Roman  Church,  and  the  marvelous 
grip  it  secured  on  civil  as  well  as  religious  institutions, 
great  men  at  times  occupied  the  papal  throne ;  men  and 
women  of  rare  devotion  and  spiritual  character  were  to 
be  found  in  convent  and  monastery  cells.  In  homes  of 
noble  heritage  as  well  as  in  lowly  peasant  huts  there 
were,  in  the  passing  generations,  a  great  host  of  honest, 
earnest,  spiritually  minded  Christians.  God  alone  knows 
how  many  hearts,  in  these  dark  tempestuous  days,  uttered 
their  prayer  of  silent  "protest"  against  the  sensual  life 
of  corrupt  priests,  and  the  selfish  and  wicked  machina- 
tions of  weak  and  ambitious  prelates. 

Sometimes  these  ''protests"  were  not  silent.  Protest- 
antism had  great  forerunners  before  the  miner's  son  of 
Mansfield  was  born.  Their  heroic  and  witnessing  lives 
we  do  well  to  recall  in  the  year  that  brings  round  in  the 
annals  of  time  the  four  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
day  when  the  crowd  about  the  church  door  at  Witten- 
berg witnessed  the  historic  act  that  set  in  motion  the 
forces  that  have  made  Protestant  Christianity  and 
Church  life  what  it  is  to-day. 

Three  hundred  years  before  this  event  we  discover 
in  the  valley  of  the  Rhone,  and  especially  in  some  of 
the  Swiss  valleys,  the  stirring  of  a  revolt  against  the 
teachings  of  Rome  and  a  degenerate  priesthood.  It 
was  about  1170  that  Peter  Waldo,  a  wealthy  mer- 
chant of  Lyons,  after  passing  through  an  experience  of 
great  spiritual  awakening,  dedicated  himself  to  vows  of 
poverty  and  efforts  to  reach  the  common  people  with  re- 
ligious instruction.  Having  secured  a  translation  of  the 
Gospels  and  other  portions  of  Scripture,  he  went  about 
here  and  there,  as  a  lay  preacher.     As  disciples  gathered 


The  Wai.de:nse:s.  9 

under  his  leadership  he  sent  them  out  after  the  manner 
of  the  seventy,  two  by  two,  to  carry  the  Gospel  message 
into  the  neighboring  villages.  They  became  known  as 
the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  and  were  largely  recruited  from 
the  artisan  class.  They  strove  to  imitate  the  mode  of 
life  that  existed  in  the  early  Church  and  followed  the 
example  of  their  leader  in  distributing  what  they  pos- 
sessed among  their  poorer  brethren.  They  conveyed  their 
message  even  to  the  Papal  court  and  Pope  Alexander  III. 
''condescended  to  approve  their  poverty."  Their  appeal 
for  permission  to  preach  was  denied  and  they  were  con- 
demned for  presuming  to  assume  any  religious  functions. 
Waldo  met  the  interdict  of  the  Archbishop  of  Lyons  with 
the  assertion  "that  he  must  obey  God  rather  than  man." 
Persecuted  and  condemned  as  heretics,  the  followers  of 
Waldo,  known  now  as  Waldenses,  were  outspoken  in  their 
hostility  to  the  Church.  They  repudiated  its  entire  hier- 
archical and  ritual  system  and  contended  for  the  most 
simple  and  democratic  ecclesiastical  form  of  government. 
Any  layman  of  virtuous  character  they  counted  worthy 
to  administer  religious  rites.  Repudiating  the  claim  that 
a  wicked  priest  could  still  perform  clerical  duties,  they 
condemned  the  supremacy  of  popes  and  prelates  in  civil 
affairs.  Accepting  Baptism  and  the  Eucharist  as  the  only 
Sacraments,  they  repudiated  prayers  for  the  dead,  festi- 
vals, lights,  purgatory  and  indulgences.  "The  modesty, 
frugality,  honest  industry,  chastity,  and  temperance  of  the 
Poor  Men  of  Lyons  was  universally  acknowledged."  Fa- 
miliar with  the  Bible  in  their  own  language,  their  preach- 
ing made  many  converts  in  the  city  of  Lyons  and  the 
neighboring  country. 


10  Thk  Rei^ormation. 

Driven  from  France,  by  relentless  persecution,  the 
Waldenses  fled  to  Aragon,  Savoy,  and  Piedmont.  They 
were  soon  harried  out  of  Spain  but  maintained  them- 
selves in  Languedoc  till  1330.  In  1545  the  Parliament 
at  Aix  took  action  that  in  the  most  cruel  manner  exter- 
minated them  in  Provence.  Scattered  in  different  prov- 
inces it  was  not  until  the  war  of  the  Cevennes  that  they 
were  finally  driven  out  of  France.  Finding  at  last  a  safe 
retreat  in  the  secluded  valleys  of  Piedmont  they  founded 
a  distinct  Church  that  has  remained  till  the  present  day. 
They  may  well  be  termed  the  ''Pilgrim  Fathers"  of  the 
Reformation. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Franciscan  and  Dominican  Orders.    English  Ford- 
runners  o^  THE)  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion.   John  Wicuf. 

The  dawn  of  the  Eleventh  Century  found  Christendom 
the  scene  of  seething  spiritual  unrest  and  intellectual  fer- 
ment. Two  of  the  greatest  leaders  in  the  long  history  of 
the  Roman  Church  were  born  in  the  last  decades  of  the 
Tenth  Century.  St.  Dominic  in  1170,  St.  Francis  in  1182. 
Sacerdotal  Christianity  had  developed  an  aristocracy  of 
power  and  caste  that  more  and  more  separated  even  the 
lowest  ranks  of  the  priesthood  from  the  common  people. 
This  priesthood,  subservient  in  every  thought  to  Rome, 
was  to  a  great  extent  exercised  by  men  ignorant  and 
bigoted  to  the  last  degree.  The  office  of  teaching  and 
preaching  had  fallen  into  disuse  and  even  disrepute.  The 
Ritual  was  repeated  by  lips  that  droned  the  service  in  a 
mechanical  and  perfunctory  way.  "Everywhere  the  bell 
summoned  to  the  frequent  service,  the  service  was  per- 
formed, and  the  obedient  flock  gathered  to  the  chapel  or 
church,  knelt,  and  either  performed  their  orisons,  or 
heard  the  customary  chant  and  prayer."  Beyond  this 
there  was  given  no  word  of  helpful  instruction.  The 
monasteries  gave  neither  light  nor  spiritual  guidance  to 
the  people.  In  the  loneliness  and  seclusion  of  their  cells 
their  members  were  utterly  isolated  from  the  world. 

The  intellectual  movement  that  in  these  days  was 
thronging  the  universities  of  Paris  and  Oxford  with  in- 
digent scholars,  was  stirring  the  life  of  the  humble  homes 
from  which  they  came.    In  early  times  when  the  Roman 

II 


12  The  Reformation. 

element  predominated,  the  Latin  service  of  the  Church 
was  more  or  less  intelligible  to  the  congregation.  But  in 
large  sections  of  Europe  Latin  had  ceased  to  be  the 
means  of  ordinary  communication.  The  rude  dialects  of 
the  North  were  growing  into  the  German  and  English 
languages.  In  France  and  Spain  and  even  Italy  Latin 
was  displaced  by  vernacular  speech  that  from  the  field 
and  market-place  grew  into  the  languages  that  were  to 
give  to  future  generations  the  poetry  of  Dante,  Chaucer, 
and  Milton.  One  cannot  read  the  story  of  the  life  work 
of  Dominic  the  founder  of  the  Friar  Preachers  and 
of  Francis  of  Assisi  without  feeling  that  they  were 
providential  men.  Under  the  enthusiastic  guidance  and 
leadership  of  Dominic  ''Christendom  was  at  once  over- 
spread with  a  host  of  zealous,  active,  devoted  men,  whose 
function  was  popular  instruction.  They  were  gathered 
from  every  country,  and  spoke,  therefore,  every  language 
and  dialect.  In  a  few  years  from  the  sierras  of  Spain  to 
the  steppes  of  Russia ;  from  the  Tiber  to  the  Thames, 
the  Trent,  the  Baltic  Sea,  the  old  faith,  in  its  fullest 
medieval,  imaginative,  inflexible  rigor,  was  preached  in 
almost  every  town  and  hamlet.  The  Dominicans  did 
not  confine  themselves  to  popular  teaching;  the  more 
dangerous,  if  as  yet  not  absolutely  disloyal  seats  of  the 
new  learning,  of  inquiry,  of  intellectual  movement,  the 
universities  of  Bologna,  Paris,  Oxford  are  invaded  and 
compelled  to  admit  these  stern  apostles  of  unswerving 
orthodoxy ;  their  zeal  soon  overlapped  the  pale  of  Chris- 
tendom ;  they  plunge  fearlessly  into  the  remote  darkness 
of  heathen  and  Mohammedan  lands,  from  whence  come 
back  rumors,  which  are  constantly  stirring  the  minds  of 
their   votaries,   of   wonderful   conversions   and   not   les? 


Dominic  and  Francis  of  Assist.  13 

wonderful  martyrdoms."^  Without  doubt  the  influence  of 
these  itinerant  preachers  was  a  mighty  power  in  quicken- 
ing the  spiritual  life  and  understanding  that  prepared  the 
way  for  the  providential  mission  of  Wiclif,  Huss,  Eras- 
mus, and  other  forerunners  of  the  Reformation.  *'Zeal," 
exclaimed  Dominic,  ''must  be  met  by  zeal,  lowliness  by 
lowliness,  false  sanctity  by  real  sanctity,  preaching  lies  by 
preaching  truth."  Under  this  banner,  with  unfaltering 
courage,  Dominic  led  the  great  order,  which  he  founded, 
until  his  death,  August  6,  1221. 

Twelve  years  younger  than  the  Spaniard  Dominic, 
Francis  of  Assisi  became  the  founder  of  another  great 
order  of  Mendicant  Friars.  In  youth  a  pleasure  loving 
soldier,  it  was  during  an  illness  in  his  twenty-fifth  year 
that  the  entire  current  and  purpose  of  his  life  was 
changed.  He  cast  in  his  lot  with  the  poorest  class  and 
became  an  attendant  in  the  hospital  for  lepers  at  Gubbio. 
Turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  entreaties  of  many  friends,  he 
returned  to  Assisi  and  continued  the  most  menial  service 
while  he  preached  the  doctrines  of  penitence  and  self- 
sacrifice.  Other  young  men  joined  him  and  the  founda- 
tions were  laid  of  the  order  of  the  Franciscans. 

Little  did  these  men  realize  that  they  were  doing  a 
work  that  was  finally  perverted  from  its  pristine  spirit 
by  insidious  evils  that  poisoned  the  life  of  monasteries 
and  nunneries  to  such  an  extent  that  the  feeling  was 
aroused  that  became  a  vital  factor  in  bringing  about  the 
revolt  from  Rome,  a  revolt  that  unsealed  the  Bible  and 
made  the  silent  protests  of  the  Middle  Ages,  stones  in  the 
foundations  of  that  Protestant  form  of  Christianity  that 

^Milman's  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  Vol.  V,  p.  2yj. 


14  The:  Reformation. 

gave  birth  in  the  fullness  of  time  to  the  principles  of  a 
democracy,  in  Church  and  State,  that  has  thus  far  at- 
tained fullest  realization  in  the  government  and  civil  and 
religious  institutions  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Roman  Catholicism,  in  its  present  form  and  age-long  his- 
tory, stands  for  a  monarchical  conception  of  Christianity 
that  is  utterly  opposed  to  the  democratic  ideals  and  insti- 
tutions of  Evangelical  Christianity.  Tolerance  forbids 
persecution.  Heretics  are  no  longer  burned  at  the  stake. 
But  honesty  of  faith,  and  courage  and  purpose  to  uphold 
the  principles  and  doctrines  enunciated  by  Christ  and  illus- 
trated in  the  history  of  the  early  Church,  forbids  the  pass- 
ing of  Protestantism  until  the  unity  of  a  free  democracy 
has  been  achieved.  Submission  to  any  conditions  other 
than  these  is  inconceivable. 

We  turn  now  to  a  story  that  has  a  peculiar  interest, 
especially  to  those  who,  by  reason  of  ancestry,  share  in 
the  heritage  of  English  history.  The  conversion  of  Brit- 
ain to  Christianity  dates  back  to  the  days  when  Gregory 
the  Great  laid  the  foundations  of  medieval  papacy.  The 
incident  that  called  the  attention  of  this  remarkable  eccle- 
siastical leader  to  the  island  that  was  the  extreme  western 
outpost  of  the  Roman  Empire,  is  a  familiar  story.  In  the 
early  days  of  his  priesthood,  Gregory  noted  the  fair 
faces  and  golden  hair  of  some  lads  who  stood  bound  in 
the  market-place  of  Rome.  Inquiring  as  to  the  country 
from  whence  they  came,  he  asked  those  in  charge  of 
them  what  name  they  bore.  ''They  are  English,  Angles." 
''Nay,"  said  Gregory,  "not  Angles  but  Angels,  with  faces 
so  angel-like.  From  what  land  do  they  come?"  "From 
Deira,"  was  the  answer.  "De  ira !"  said  the  young  priest, 
"aye,   plucked   from    God's   ire,   and   called   to    Christ's 


The:  Friar  Pre:ache:rs.  15 

mercy!  What  is  the  name  of  their  King?"  *'Aella." 
Again  Gregory  made  a  play  upon  this  reply.  ''Alleluia 
shall  be  sung  in  Aella's  land,"  he  exclaimed.  When  four 
years  later  the  marriage  of  Bertha,  the  daughter  of  the 
Prankish  king  Charibert  of  Paris,  to  Aethelbert  of  Brit- 
ain, opened  the  door  of  opportunity,  Gregory  sent  Augus- 
tine, a  Roman  abbot,  with  a  band  of  monks  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  English  people  (597). 

It  is  not  our  province  to  tell  the  story  of  the  conversion 
of  Britain  to  the  Christian  faith.  We  return  to  the  recep- 
tion which  the  followers  of  Dominic  and  Francis  of  Assisi 
received  as,  in  their  barefoot  wanderings  with  coarse 
frock  of  serge  bound  with  a  girdle  of  rope,  they  crossed 
the  channel  and  penetrated  every  part  of  England,  giv- 
ing their  message  and  help  to  the  poor,  preaching  to  the 
artisans  in  the  growing  towns,  and  lecturing  in  the  uni- 
versities. ''We  can  hardly  wonder,"  says  the  historian 
Green,  "at  the  burst  of  enthusiasm  which  welcomed  the 
itinerant  preacher,  whose  fervid  appeal,  coarse  wit,  and 
familiar  story  brought  religion  into  the  fair  and  the  mar- 
ket-place." In  these  years  (1221-1260)  the  followers  of 
Francis  made  their  homes  in  the  leper  settlements  that 
had  their  origin  in  the  wretched  and  unsanitary  condi- 
tions that  existed  in  sections  of  the  towns  and  cities.  In 
London  they  built  their  rough  huts  in  the  midst  of  the 
slaughter  houses  of  Newgate.  They  illustrated  in  their 
day  the  spirit  of  the  Salvation  Army  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century. 

History  repeats  itself.  Success  brought  into  the  ranks 
of  the  Friars,  those  who  yielded  to  the  desire  for  more 
of  the  luxuries  of  the  table ;  for  more  congenial  and  ar- 
tistic surroundings ;   and,  above  all,  for  books  and  appli- 


i6  The  Reformation. 

ances  that  would  open  to  them  the  treasures  of  learning 
that  the  universities  were  so  widely  distributing.  From 
the  ranks  of  these  Mendicant  orders  there  came  men  who 
were  profound  students  of  theology.  They  lectured  to 
eager  listeners  in  the  churches  and  taught  philosophy  in 
the  cloisters  of  the  monasteries.  Under  the  stimulus  of 
the  followers  of  Francis,  Oxford  became  a  rival  of  Paris 
and  the  great  schoolmen,  Roger  Bacon,  Dun  Scotus, 
and  Ockham,  came  to  their  appointed  tasks.  A  fearless 
spirit  of  inquiry  guided  the  growing  movement  among  the 
masses  of  the  English  people  in  their  coming  struggle  with 
the  Crown.  **The  position  of  the  Friars,"  says  Green, 
"is  clearly  and  strongly  marked  throughout  this  whole 
contest.  The  University  of  Oxford,  which  had  now 
fallen  under  the  direction  of  their  teaching,  stood  first  in 
its  resistance  to  papal  exactions  and  its  claim  of  English 
liberty.  The  classes  in  the  towns  on  whom  the  influence 
of  the  Friars  told  most  directly  were  the  steady  support- 
ers of  freedom  throughout  the  Barons'  War  (1258-1265'!. 
Adam  March  was  the  closest  friend  and  confidant  both 
of  Grosseteste  and  Earl  Simon  of  Montfort." 

Robert  Grosseteste  (i  175-1253),  one  of  the  greatest 
scholars,  if  not  the  greatest,  of  his  age,  has  been  called 
the  "Harbinger  of  the  Reformation."  From  the  time  he 
was  made  bishop  of  Lincoln,  in  1235,  he  labored  inde-- 
fatigably  to  secure  the  reform  of  the  Roman  Church. 
The  action  of  Innocent  IV.  in  giving  some  of  the  richest 
benefices  in  England  to  Italians,  who  drew  their  reve- 
nues but  never  entered  the  country,  aroused  his  indig- 
nation. A  visit  to  Rome  strengthened  his  conviction  of 
the  corruption  of  the  papal  court  and  at  the  council  of 
Lyons  (1250)  he  preached  a  sermon  in  which  he  declared 


John  Wicui^.  17 

that  the  Roman  pontiff  and  his  court  "was  the  fountain 
and  origin  of  all  the  evils  of  the  Church."  "He  was," 
says  Matthew  Paris,  in  his  chronicles,  "the  open  rebuker 
of  both  the  pope  and  the  king,  censor  of  prelates,  cor- 
rector of  monks,  instructor  of  clerks,  an  unwearied  ex- 
aminer of  the  books  of  Scripture,  a  crusher  and  despiser 
of  the  Romans."  We  do  not  wonder  that  the  request  of 
Edward  I.  that  he  be  canonized  was  not  favorably  re- 
ceived at  Rome. 

We  come  now  to  the  life  work  of  one  of  the  forerun- 
ners of  the  Reformation  whose  name  looms  higher  with 
the  passing  centuries.  The  early  years  of  John  Wiclif 
are  hidden  in  an  obscurity  that  leaves  in  doubt  the  exact 
time  and  place  of  his  birth.  We  know  that  he  sprang 
from  a  lowly  English  home  in  Yorkshire  that  encour- 
aged him  to  join  the  company  of  indigent  scholars  that 
were  crowding  the  cloisters  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge. 
The  light  of  the  "New  Learning"  had  found  its  way  as  a 
source  of  inspiration  and  quickening  thought  not  only 
into  the  monasteries  and  the  stately  halls  of  the  nobility 
of  England,  but  into  its  villages  and  moorland  cottages. 
Evidently  Wiclif  must  have  been  a  scholar,  in  his  stu- 
dent days,  of  rare  promise.  Before  he  entered  upon  the 
career  that  brought  him  into  wide  public  notice  he  had 
gained  a  remarkable  reputation  at  Oxford  as  a  lecturer 
in  divinity.  He  had  already  disclosed  that  strength  of 
character,  originality  of  intellect  and  undaunted  courage 
that  characterized  his  entire  career.  While  a  master  of 
Latin  he  had  launched  his  fiery  invectives  against  the 
idleness  and  profligacy  of  the  clergy,  in  the  English 
tongue  which  he  was   to  aid   in   after  years,  especially 


i8  Thk  Reformation. 

through  his  translation  of  the  Bible,  in  making  a  more 
effective  vehicle  for  the  use  of  the  creative  genius  of 
Chaucer,  and  in  the  years  a  little  later  on,  of  Shake- 
speare, Milton  and  John  Bunyan. 

In  1365  Wiclif  v^as  appointed  Warden  of  Canterbury. 
Other  Church  preferments  came  to  him,  but  he  loved  Ox- 
ford and  here  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  professor 
of  divinity  he  spent  most  of  his  life. 

"The  burden  of  Wiclif's  teaching  was  the  exposure  of 
the  indolent  fictions  v^hich  passed  under  the  name  of  reli- 
gion in  the  established  theory  of  the  Church.  He  was  a 
man  of  most  simple  life;  austere  in  appearance,  with 
bare  feet  and  russet  mantle.  As  a  soldier  of  Christ,  he 
saw  in  his  great  Master  and  His  Apostles  the  patterns 
whom  he  was  bound  to  imitate.  By  the  contagion  of  ex- 
ample he  gathered  about  him  other  men  who  thought  as 
he  did;  and  gradually,  under  his  captaincy,  these  'poor 
priests,'  as  they  were  called — vowed  to  poverty,  because 
Christ  was  poor — vowed  to  accept  no  benefice,  lest  they 
should  misspend  the  property  of  the  poor,  and  because,  as 
apostles,  they  were  bound  to  go  where  their  Master  called 
them,  spread  out  over  the  country  as  an  army  of  mis- 
sionaries, to  preach  the  faith  which  they  found  in  the 
Bible — to  preach,  not  of  relics  and  of  indulgences,  but  of 
repentance  and  of  the  grace  of  God.  They  carried  with 
them  copies  of  the  Bible  which  Wiclif  had  translated, 
leaving  here  and  there,  as  they  traveled,  their  costly  treas- 
ures, as  shining  seed-points  of  light;  and  they  refused  to 
recognize  the  authority  of  the  bishops,  or  their  right  to 
silence  them."^ 

iFroude's  History  of  Henry  VHI.,  Vol.  I,  p.  304. 


John  Wicu^.  19 

"The  spare,  emaciated  frame  of  Wiclif,"  says  Green,^ 
"weakened  by  study  and  asceticism,  hardly  promised  a 
reformer  who  could  carry  on  the  stormy  work  of  Ock- 
ham  f  but  within  this  frail  form  lay  a  temper  quick  and 
restless,  an  immense  energy,  an  immovable  conviction, 
an  unconquerable  pride.  The  personal  charm  which  ever 
accompanies  real  greatness  only  deepened  the  influence 
he  derived  from  the  spotless  purity  of  his  life.  As  yet 
indeed  Wiclif  himself  can  hardly  have  suspected  the  im- 
mense range  of  his  intellectual  power.  It  was  only  the 
struggle  that  lay  before  him  which  prepared  the  dry  and 
subtle  schoolman  to  be  the  founder  of  our  later  English 
prose,  a  master  of  popular  invective,  of  irony,  of  per- 
suasion, a  dexterous  politician,  an  audacious  partisan,  the 
organizer  of  a  religious  order,  the  unsparing  assailant  of 
abuses,  the  boldest  and  most  indefatigable  of  controver- 
sialists, the  first  reformer  who  dared,  when  deserted  and 
alone,  to  question  and  deny  the  creed  of  the  Christendom 
around  him,  to  break  through  the  tradition  of  the  past, 
and  with  his  last  breath  to  assert  the  freedom  of  reli- 
gious thought  against  the  dogmas  of  the  papacy." 

The  colors  with  which  these  great  modern  historians 
have  painted  this  composite  picture  of  Wiclif  are  abun- 

iHistory  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  I,  p.  295. 

^William  of  Ockham,  born  at  Ockham  Surrey  about  1270;  died 
at  Munich,  April  7,  1347.  A  graduate  of  Oxford  he  joined  the 
Franciscan  order  and  studied  under  Dun  Scotus  in  France.  His 
fame  as  a  schoolman  was  second  only  to  his  great  teacher.  He 
became  a  vigorous  opponent  of  Pope  John  XXII.,  and  was  im- 
prisoned at  Avignon  because  of  his  condemnation  of  the  seizure 
of  ecclesiastical  property.  Making  his  escape  from  prison  he 
found  his  way  to  Munich,  where  he  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  in 
controversies  that  hastened  the  Reformation. 


20  The  Rei'ormation. 

dandy  furnished  in  the  contemporary  testimony  of  the 
times  in  which  he  lived.  It  was  an  opportune  moment 
for  the  work  providentially  placed  in  his  hands.  The 
''great  schism,"  that  found  rival  popes  fulminating  their 
angry  excommunications  from  Avignon  as  well  as  Rome, 
struck  a  blow  at  the  ecclesiastical  empire,  reared  in  the 
Middle  Ages  upon  the  ruins  of  ancient  Rome,  from 
which  it  has  never  recovered.  Even  men  of  little  educa- 
tion, trained  from  earliest  childhood  to  bow  with  utter 
self-abnegation  and  obedience  to  papal  edicts  and  the 
imperial  power  that  enforced  them,  saw  the  weakness  of 
the  claim  that  set  up  these  proud,  selfish,  and  often 
unspeakably  wicked  ecclesiastical  leaders,  as  the  Vice- 
gerents of  Almighty  God.  Then,  as  to-day,  the  walls  of 
the  Palace  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon,  echoed  the  mockery 
of  such  blasphemous  assertions.  Even  Roman  Catholic 
historians,  who  plead  eloquently  for  the  faith  and  leader- 
ship of  their  Church,  are  compelled  to  acknowledge  the 
shame  of  this  rivalry  that  for  a  time  placed  two  popes 
upon  a  throne  of  authority.  With  a  near-sightedness  that 
reveals  a  lack  of  even  common  wisdom  and  discretion 
those  who  controlled  the  papal  court  at  Rome,  in  their 
selfish  greed,  seized  upon  ecclesiastical  property  and  pat- 
ronage in  England  and  used  these  resources  in  meeting 
the  expenses  of  luxurious  living  under  the  shadow  of  St. 
Peter's  church.  Some  of  the  richest  benefices  in  England 
were  held  by  Italian  incumbents  who  never  crossed  the 
channel  or  gave  an  hour  of  service  to  the  people  whom 
they  impoverished  by  their  selfish  demands.  It  was  as- 
serted in  the  "Good  Parliament"  (1376)  that  "the  taxes 
levied  by  the  pope  amounted  to  five  times  the  amount  of 
those  levied  by  the  king."     "The  brokers  of  the  sinful 


WlIXIAM    O^    WyKEHAM.  21 

city  of  Rome,"  wrote  Wiclif,  ''promoted  for  money  un- 
learned and  unworthy  caitiffs  to  benefices  of  the  value 
of  a  thousand  marks,  while  the  poor  and  learned  hardly 
obtained  one  of  twenty.  So  decays  sound  learning.  They 
present  aliens  who  neither  need  nor  care  to  see  their  pa- 
rishioners, despise  God's  services,  convey  away  the  treas- 
ure of  the  realm,  and  are  worse  than  Jews  or  Saracens, 
The  pope's  revenue  from  England  alone  is  larger  than 
that  of  any  prince  in  Christendom.  God  gave  His  sheep 
to  be  pastured,  not  to  be  shaven  and  shorn." 

Wiclif  in  these  tempestuous  times  suffered  without 
cause  from  the  political  ambitions  of  John  of  Gaunt  and 
other  leaders,  but  he  held  steadily  to  his  course  with  un- 
daunted courage.  Then  came  the  persecution  of  Wil- 
liam of  Wykeham,  and  action  was  taken  against  Wiclif. 
Wykeham  while  pouring  out  the  resources  of  his  vast 
riches  in  endowing  great  seats  of  learning,  still  contended 
for  the  hierarchical  power  of  the  Church,  but  Wiclif 
boldly  declared  that  it  was  the  function  of  the  nation  to 
decide  as  to  the  first  and  paramount  claim  to  all  moneys 
raised  within  the  realm.  "The  religious  annals  of  Eng- 
land," says  Milman,  "may  well  be  proud  of  both  these 
men." 

The  Bull  dispatched  from  Avignon  by  Gregory  XI. 
commanding  the  University  of  Oxford  to  prohibit  the 
teachings  of  Wiclif  met  with  a  response  that  showed  that 
their  sympathies  were  with  their  lion-hearted  associate. 
Cited  to  appear  at  the  Church  of  St.  Paul,  Wiclif  chose 
to  go  to  Lambeth.  The  populace  arrayed  themselves  on 
the  side  of  the  reformer.  Crowding  into  the  chapel,  their 
fierce  exhibition  of  anger  and  resentment  alarmed  the 
assembled  bishops.    The  arrival  of  a  messenger  from  the 


22  Thi:  Reformation. 

Princess  of  Wales  put  an  end  to  the  proceedings.  ''They 
were,"  says  the  Roman  Cathohc  historian,  Walsingham, 
"as  reeds  shaken  by  the  wind,  became  soft  as  oil  in  their 
speech,  to  the  discredit  of  their  own  dignity,  and  the 
degradation  of  the  Church.  Panic-stricken  they  were  as 
men  that  hear  not,  as  those  in  whose  mouth  is  no  re- 
proof." Wiclif  had  struck  his  blows  at  the  corrupt  prac- 
tices of  the  highest  and  wealthiest  dignitaries  of  the 
Church.  His  voice  was  that  of  a  leader  of  the  new  de- 
mocracy that  in  time  was  to  revolutionize  the  life  of  Eng- 
land and  crossing  the  then  unknown  Atlantic  was  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  the  great  Republic  with  its  dominat- 
ing Protestant  life  and  institutions.  Under  the  guidance 
of  Wiclif  a  new  order  came  into  existence  "which  vied 
with  and  supplanted  the  Mendicant  Orders  in  popularity. 
How  they  were  maintained  appears  not;  probably  they 
were  content  with  hospitable  entertainment,  with  food 
and  lodging.  Such  was  the  distinction  drawn  by  Wiclif  be- 
tween our  Lord  and  His  Apostles  and  the  sturdy  beggars 
whom  He  anathematized,  and  whose  mode  of  exaction  is 
so  humorously  described  by  Chaucer.  There  is  always 
a  depth  of  latent  religiousness  in  the  heart  of  the  com- 
mon people,  and  these  men  spoke  with  simplicity  and 
earnestness  the  plainer  truths  of  the  Gospel  in  the  ver- 
nacular tongue.  The  novelty,  and  no  doubt,  the  bold  at- 
tacks on  the  clergy,  as  well  as  the  awfulness  of  the  truths 
now  first  presented  in  their  naked  form  of  words,  shook, 
thrilled,  inthralled  the  souls  of  men,  most  of  whom  were 
entirely  without  instruction,  the  best  content  with  the 
symbolic  teaching  of  the  ritual."^ 

iMilman's  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  Vol.  VII,  p.  383. 


Wici^if's  Translation  of  the  Bibi,^.  23 

In  the  earlier  part  of  his  career  as  a  reformer  Wiclif 
confined  his  protests  against  the  ecclesiastical  corruption 
and  misused  power  of  Rome.  The  time  came  when  he 
brought  to  bear  his  strong  intellectual  powers  and  knowl- 
edge of  the  New  Testament  in  an  examination,  exegeti-- 
cal,  and  historical,  that  resulted  in  his  discrediting  and 
finally  repudiating  the  doctrine  of  Transubstantiation  as 
then  held  by  the  Church.  Upon  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Mass  as  it  had,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  evolved  from 
the  Supper  instituted  by  our  Lord  and  observed  with 
reverent  simplicity  by  the  early  Church  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  Rome  built  the  mighty  structure  of  her  hierarchical 
power  and  supremacy.  ''It  was  by  his  exclusive  right  to 
the  performance  of  the  miracle  which  was  wrought  in  the 
mass  that  the  lowliest  priest  was  raised  high  above 
princes."  In  his  denial  of  the  doctrine  of  Transubstan- 
tiation Wiclif  "in  the  spring  of  1381  began  that  great 
movement  of  revolt  which  ended,  more  than  a  century 
after,  in  the  establishment  of  religious  freedom,  by  sever- 
ing the  mass  of  the  Teutonic  peoples  from  the  general 
body  of  the  Catholic  Church."     (Green.) 

It  was  in  these  years  when  Wiclif  took  his  stand 
against  the  corrupt  practices  and  doctrinal  errors  of  the 
Roman  See  that  he  completed  his  monumental  English 
version  of  the  Scriptures.  From  this  time  on  the  chained 
Bible  became  an  open  Bible.  "It  quitted  the  learned 
schools,  the  dead  languages,  the  dusty  shelves  on  which 
the  clergy  suffered  it  to  sleep,  covered  with  a  confusion 
of  commentators  and  Fathers."  The  invention  of  the 
printing  press  was  soon  to  place  the  English  Bible  in  the 
hands  of  the  people.  "Fancy,"  says  Taine  in  his  History 
of  English  Literature,  "these  brave  spirits,  simple  and 


24  The:  Reformation. 

strong  souls,  who  began  to  read  at  night  in  their  shops 
by  candle  light;  for  they  were  shopkeepers — tailors  and 
bakers — who,  with  some  men  of  letters,  began  to  read, 
and  then  to  believe,  and  finally  got  themselves  burned. 
What  a  sight  for  the  Fifteenth  Century,  and  what  a  prom- 
ise !  It  seems  as  though  with  liberty  of  action  liberty  of 
mind  begins  to  appear ;  that  these  common  folk  will 
think  and  speak;  that  under  the  conventional  literature, 
imitated  from  France,  a  new  literature  is  dawning;  and 
that  England,  genuine  England,  half  mute  since  the  Con- 
quest, will  at  last  find  a  voice." 

John  Wiclif  in  addition  to  his  apostolic  labors  as  a  re- 
former holds  a  unique  place  in  the  history  of  English 
literature.  He  was  one  of  the  master  builders  of  the 
language  that  within  two  centuries  after  his  death  blos- 
somed forth  and  bore  the  fruit  of  the  genius  of  Shake- 
speare, Milton,  and  Hooker. 

"If  Chaucer,"  says  Green,  *'is  the  father  of  our  later 
English  poetry,  Wiclif  is  the  father  of  our  later  English 
prose.  The  rough,  clear,  homely  English  of  his  tracts, 
the  speech  of  the  plowman  and  the  trader  of  the  day, 
though  colored  with  the  picturesque  phraseology  of  the 
Bible,  is  in  its  literary  use  as  distinctly  a  creation  of  his 
own  as  the  style  in  which  he  embodied  it,  the  terse  vehe- 
ment sentences,  the  stinging  sarcasms,  the  hard  antitheses, 
which  roused  the  dullest  mind  like  a  whip." 

In  the  midst  of  popular  uprisings  and  conflicts  among 
ambitious  leaders,  that  were  the  premonition  of  volcanic 
forces  that  were  soon  to  tear  asunder  the  old  foundations, 
Wiclif  labored  with  indefatigable  zeal.  In  addition  to 
his  labors  in  translating  the  Bible,  tracts  without  number, 
controversial  and  expository,  came  from  his  prolific  pen. 


Wici^if's  TransIvATion  of  the:  Bible:.  25 

Fearless  in  the  midst  of  threatening  dangers,  he  sought 
no  place  of  higher  honor  than  that  of  the  humble  parish 
priest  of  Lutterworth.  Through  his  devoted  followers, 
the  ''poor  priests,"  his  teachings  leavened  England  with 
''Christ's  Law."  He  enjoyed  no  service  more  than  the 
opportunity  of  preaching  his  "plain,  bold,  vernacular," 
sermons  in  the  parish  church  at  Lutterworth  and  the 
neighboring  villages.  After  his  condemnation  at  Oxford 
he  retired  to  his  parochial  labors,  where  he  continued 
until  his  sudden  death  two  years  later  (1384). 

John  Wiclif  was  the  greatest  among  the  forerunners  of 
the  Reformation.  In  spite  of  persecution,  the  movement 
he  had  set  in  motion  did  not  cease  to  "work  underground," 
until  it  burst  forth  in  the  great  upheaval  of  the  Sixteenth 
Century.  The  quaint  prophecy  made,  when  in  1428  his 
ashes  were  cast  by  malicious  hands  upon  the  waters  of  the 
Avon,  came  true. 

"The  Avon  to  the  Severn  runs. 
The  Severn  to  the  sea, 
And  Wiclif's  dust  shall  spread  abroad 
Wide  as  the  waters  be." 

The  books  that  Wiclif  in  his  Oxford  study  wrote  in 
Latin  were  copied  and  read  all  over  Europe.  "They  were 
as  well  known  in  Bohemia  as  they  were  in  England." 
Their  seed  truths  fell  into  good  ground.  Bohemia  be- 
came a  veritable  hot  bed  of  heretical  doctrines.  Rome 
recognized  that  she  was  facing  a  struggle  with  forces 
that  imperiled  her  very  life.  The  history  of  the  years 
from  the  death  of  Wiclif  until  the  holding  of  the  Council 
of  Constance  in   141 5  is  one  whose  tangled  threads  of 


26  The;  Reformation. 

action  are  too  numerous  for  mention  in  a  condensed  nar- 
rative. Numberless  streams  of  influence  united  in  the 
forces,  social,  civil,  and  ecclesiastical,  that  founded  the 
nations  of  modern  Europe;  changed  the  history  of 
Christendom ;  and  opened  a  new  era  of  life  and  civil- 
ization. 


CHAPTER  III. 

John  Huss.     The  Moravian  Brethren. 

It  was  a  motley  company  that  filled  the  streets  and 
crowded  the  sidewalks  of  the  picturesque  and  secluded 
German  city  of  Constance  in  early  June,   1414.     From 
every  part  of  Europe  representatives  were  gathering  to  at- 
tend the  Council  towards  which  the  thought  of  men,  in 
every  country  obedient  to  the  Roman  See,  turned  with 
eager  interest.    From  the  day  this  great  Universal  Coun- 
cil opened  its  sessions,  ''and  for  several  months  after,  the 
converging  roads  that  led  to  this  central  city  were  crowd- 
ed with  all  ranks  and  orders,  ecclesiastical  and  laymen, 
Sovereign   Princes,  and  Ambassadors  and  Bishops,  the 
heads  or  representatives  of  the  great  Monastic  Orders, 
theologians,  Doctors  of  Civil  Eaw,  delegates  from  re- 
nowned universities,  some  with  splendid  and  numerous 
retainers,  some  like  trains  of  pilgrims,  some  singly  and 
on  foot.     With  these,  merchants,  traders  of  every  kind 
and  degree,  and  every  sort  of  wild  and  strange  vehicle."^ 
Among  the  lookers  on,  as  this  procession,  exhibiting  every 
phase  of  medieval  life,  surges  towards  the  doors  of  the 
great  Cathedral  church  of  Constance  we  must  not  forget 
the  men  who  were  slowly  emerging  out  of  the  bondage 
of  feudal  institutions  and  traditions.     They  represented 
the  lowly,   forgotten   hewers  of   wood  and   drawers   of 
water  who  were  the  vanguard  of  the  armies  that  were  to 
win  in  the  centuries  near  at  hand,  the  victories  of  de- 
mocracy against  hierarchical  and  monarchical  power.    Al- 

^Milman's  History  of  Latin  Christianity,  Vol.  VIT,  p.  429. 

27 


28  The  Reformation. 

ready  shackles  were  being  riven  that  were  worn  with 
the  rust  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  weakened  by  struggles 
that  like  intermittent  volcanic  eruptions,  again  and  again 
disclosed  hidden  fires  beneath  a  seemingly  firm  and  un- 
changing landscape. 

In  this  historic  Council  of  Constance  two  figures  stand 
out  most  prominent.  The  one  occupying  the  most  ex- 
alted station  in  ecclesiastical  and  imperial  power,  the 
other  a  Bohemian  teacher  on  his  way  to  a  martyrdom 
that  has  placed  his  name  among  the  forerunners  and 
pioneers  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  Pope  John 
XXII.  represented  the  strength  and  weakness  of  the  Ro- 
man Church.  Like  so  many  of  his  predecessors  his  pri- 
vate life  was  rotten  to  the  core.  Enmeshed  in  ecclesias- 
tical intrigues  that  threatened  his  downfall,  he  had  as- 
serted his  plenary  power  and  jurisdiction  in  the  Edict  that 
called  together  the  council  at  Constance,  ostensibly  for 
''the  healing  of  divisions  and  averting  the  dangers  of 
Christendom."  The  schism  wrought  by  the  rival  popes 
and  courts  at  Avignon  and  Rome  gave  opportunity  for 
selfish  human  ambitions  to  have  full  play  to  the  scandal 
of  all  Christendom.  Constance  was  the  scene  of  Pope 
John's  humiliation  and  exit  from  the  stage  of  history  fur- 
ther than  his  early  dissolute  life  casts  shame  upon  the 
hierarchical  and  infallible  claims  of  the  Roman  See.  Con- 
stance had  power  to  condemn  the  gentle  spirited  Bohe- 
mian teacher  and  friend  of  Jerome  of  Prague,  but  the 
flames  that  extinguished  the  earthly  life  of  John  Huss 
helped  to  kindle  a  conflagration  that  burned  up  the  dross 
and  stubble  of  a  decaying  civilization  and  again  made 
Christianity  the  hope  and  promise  of  a  democracy  that  in 
victories  already  won  gives  assurance  that  the  Twentieth 


John  Huss.  29 

Century  of  the  Christian  era  will  witness  victories  that 
will  transfer  to  the  people  of  every  land  their  rightful 
leadership  under  the  one  Lord  and  Master  whose  right 
it  is  to  hold  the  Supreme  place  in  the  kingdom  of  which 
He  is  the  Divine  Ruler  and  Upholder.  Whatever  changes 
may  come  in  the  ecclesiastical  and  governmental  direc- 
tion of  the  Church  of  which  Christ  is  the  head  one  fact 
emerges  more  and  more  clearly  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  titanic  struggle  of  the  hours  in  which  these  lines 
are  written.  Democracy  is  to  be  the  source  of  its  life 
and  power  as  against  all  human  hierarchical  claims 
and  pretensions.  In  this  century-old  conflict  the  life  of 
John  Huss  of  Bohemia  and  John  Wiclif  of  England, 
whose  teachings  inspired  and  guided  him,  will  always  be 
an  oasis  of  promise  in  the  history  of  the  great  movement 
to  the  advancement  of  which  they  gave  their  noble  and 
devoted  service.  "John  Huss,"  says  Lechler,^  "was  not 
an  original  creative  mind.  As  a  thinker  he  had  neither 
speculative  talent  or  constructive  faculty.  In  comparison 
with  Wiclif  he  is  a  moon  with  borrowed  light.  Nor  was 
he  by  nature  a  strong  character,  twice  hardened,  and 
keen  as  steel.  Rather  was  he  a  feeble  and  tender  spirit, 
more  sensitive  than  designed  for  heroic  deed.  But  with 
his  tenderness  there  was  combined  moral  tenacity,  indom- 
itable constancy,  and  inflexible  firmness.  If  we  add  to 
these  characteristics  his  purity  and  humility,  his  manly 
fear  of  God  and  tender  conscientiousness,  we  have  in 
Huss  a  man  to  love  and  admire.  Seldom  have  the  power 
of  conscience  and  the  imperial  strength  of  a  faith  rooted 
in  Christ  asserted  themselves  in  so  commanding  and  he- 
roic a  manner." 
iSchaff-Herzog  Encyclopedia. 


so  The  Reformation. 

Huss  obeyed  the  command  to  appear  at  Constance, 
under  the  protection  of  a  safe  conduct  from  the  Emperor 
Sigismund.  This  royal  pledge  of  safety  was  violated. 
Thrown  into  a  prison  where  his  friend  Jerome  of  Prague 
was  soon  incarcerated,  Huss  was  heavily  ironed  and 
chained  to  a  beam.  On  the  7th  of  June,  141 5, — within 
two  years  of  a  century  before  Luther  posted  his  theses 
on  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg — Huss  was  brought  be- 
fore the  Council  of  Constance.  He  calmly  accepted  the 
verdict  of  death  rather  than  recant.  On  the  6th  of  July, 
his  forty-second  birthday,  he  was  burned  at  the  stake  and 
his  ashes  cast  into  the  Rhine.  Following  his  death  a 
civil  war  broke  out  in  Bohemia  in  which  the  contending 
forces  were  the  followers  of  Huss  and  the  Emperor  Sigis- 
mund, who  had  violated  the  safe  conduct  he  had  given 
the  courageous  accuser  of  the  corruptions  of  Rome.  This 
war,  known  as  the  Hussite  War,  did  not  cease  until  1427. 
These  valiant  followers  of  Huss,  under  the  name  of  Bo- 
hemian Brethren,  existed  in  the  time  of  Luther,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  Moravian  Church.  Not  to  the  Lu- 
theran or  Reformed  Churches,  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America, 
must  be  accorded  the  high  distinction  of  having  first  led 
in  the  revolt  from  Rome.  This  honor  belongs  to  the  Mo- 
ravian Church.  The  history  in  brief  is  this.  In  the  con- 
tentions that  followed  the  death  of  Huss,  Peter  of  Chelcic 
in  Bohemia,  became  a  leader  of  a  group  who  took  a  very 
radical  stand  on  social  questions  and  often  quoted  Wiclif 
as  their  authority  in  doctrinal  questions.  Later  on  they 
assumed  the  name  of  Communion  of  Brethren,  which  is 
the  more  correct  translation  of  the  later  term  of  Unitas 
fratrium. 


Moravian  Brethren.  31 

"At  the  synod  of  Reichenau  (1495)  they  rejected  the 
authority  of  Peter  of  Chelcic,  and  accepted  the  Bible  as 
their  only  standard  of  faith  and  practice.  They  taught 
the  Apostles'  Creed,  rejected  purgatory,  the  worship  of 
saints  and  the  authority  of  the  Roman  Church,  practiced 
infant  baptism  and  confirmation,  held  a  view  of  the  Sacra- 
ment similar  to  that  of  Zwingli,  and,  differing  somewhat 
from  Luther  in  their  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  de- 
clared that  true  faith  was  *to  know  God,  to  love  Him,  to 
do  His  commandments,  and  to  submit  to  His  will.'  With 
the  Brethren,  however,  the  chief  stress  was  laid  not  on 
doctrine  but  conduct."^ 

The  growth  of  the  Brethren  from  the  opening  of  the 
Sixteenth  Century  was  rapid.  "In  1501  Bishop  Luke  of 
Prague  edited  the  first  Protestant  hymn  book ;  in  1502  he 
issued  a  catechism,  which  circulated  in  Switzerland  and 
Germany  and  fired  the  catechetical  zeal  of  Luther;  in 
1565  John  Blahoslaw  translated  the  New  Testament  into 
Bohemian;  in  1 579-1 593  the  Old  Testament  was  added; 
and  the  whole,  known  as  the  Kralitz  Bible,  is  used  in  Bo- 
hemia still. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  the  Bo- 
hemian Protestants  met  an  overwhelming  defeat  at  the 
battle  of  the  White  Hill  (1620).  Some  fled  to  England 
and  Saxony  and  a  few  found  homes  in  America.  The 
"Hidden  Seed"  soon  revived  the  spirit  and  work  of  the 
Moravian  Brethren  who  found  their  home  in  Germany. 
Under  the  leadership  of  Christian  David  they  crossed  over 
the  border  into  Saxony  and  settled  down  near  the  estate 
of  Count  Zinzendorf  and  under  his  patronage  built  the 

iRev.  J.  E.  Hutton,  author  of  History  of  the  Moravian  Church. 


32  The  Reformation. 

town  of  Hunhurt  (1722-1727).  The  Protestant  world 
reverently  recognizes  that  one  of  the  numerically  small- 
est communions  in  its  fellowship  in  its  work  as  the 
Disopora  ( i  Peter  1:1)  has  been  a  mighty  leavening 
power  in  the  life  of  all  the  Evangelical  Churches.  John 
Wesley,  the  great  founder  of  Methodism,  never  ceased  to 
bear  witness  to  the  spiritual  quickening  that  from  the 
teaching  and  guidance  of  a  Moravian  brother  (Peter 
Boehler)  sent  him  forth  to  his  marvelous  life  work.  To 
the  Moravians  also,  lineal  descendants  of  John  Huss,  is 
accorded  the  honor,  in  the  annals  of  foreign  missions,  of 
having  first  among  Protestants  proclaimed  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  Church  in  its  corporate  life  and  service  to 
carry  the  message  of  the  Gospel  to  heathen  lands. 


CHAPTER  IV.  

Social  and  Political  Conditions  at  the:  Dawn  of  the 
Sixte:e:nth  Century. 

While  it  is  impossible  in  a  brief  narrative  to  unravel 
all  the  tangled  threads  of  medieval  history,  careful  atten- 
tion must  be  given  to  dominant  influences  that  are  a  part 
of  the  warp  and  woof  of  the  story  of  the  struggles  that 
gave  rise  to  the  nations  of  Modern  Europe;  developed 
its  commerce  and  wealth ;  reared  its  cities ;  brought  about 
the  Protestant  Revolution ;  and  ushered  in  the  era  of  a 
new  democracy  and  civilization  founded  upon  New  Tes- 
tament ideals  and  principles.  The  Reformation  was  by 
no  means  solely  a  religious  revolution.  Modern  histo- 
rians have  indeed  gone  so  far  as  to  assert  that  ''the  mo- 
tives both  remote  and  proximate  which  led  to  the  Lu- 
theran revolt  were  largely  secular  rather  than  spiritual."^ 
This  appears  to  us  an  exaggerated  overstatement,  but  it 
must  be  conceded  that  the  overthrow  of  discredited 
dogma  was  used  to  secure  relief  from  the  intolerable 
abuses  of  ecclesiastical  power  and  supremacy.  "German 
complaints  of  papal  tyranny  go  back  to  Hildegard  of 
Bingen  and  others  who  antedated  Luther  by  more  than 
three  centuries." 

From  the  hour  Constantine  espoused  the  Christian 
faith  the  Church  was  granted  privileges  and  prerogatives 
that  under  the  leadership  of  Rome  developed  the  ecclesi- 
astical system  that  found  its  imperial  realization  in  the 
spiritual  authority  of  the  Papal  See  that  arrogated  con- 

iH.  C.  Lea. 

33 
3 


34  ^'hh:  Reformation. 

trolling  influence  over  the  secular  power  of  the  Holy  Ro- 
man Empire.  This  assumption  and  exercise,  both  of  spir- 
itual and  political  authority,  was  the  source  of  friction 
between  Church  and  State  that  increased  with  the  passing 
centuries.  The  encroachments  and  corruptions  that  arose 
out  of  the  ecclesiastical  system  represented  in  the  Roman 
Church  will  find  constant  illustration  in  our  narrative. 
Other  influences  that  paved  the  way  for  the  Reformation 
it  will  be  helpful  to  dwell  upon  briefly. 

In  medieval  days  the  learned  men  of  Europe  employed 
Latin  in  their  conversation,  correspondence,  and  reading. 
Some  of  them  did  not  know  the  common  language  of  the 
country  in  which  they  lived.  Latin  was  the  language  of 
Rome.  Its  use  created  an  aristocracy  of  letters  that  in 
every  way  was  separated  from  the  masses  of  the  people. 
The  members  of  this  aristocracy  were  looked  upon  as  a 
part  of  the  clergy  and  the  Popes  claimed  them  as  their 
subjects.  "For  centuries  in  England  a  man  convicted  of 
a  crime,  by  pleading  that  he  could  read  and  write,  could 
claim  benefit  of  the  clergy,"  a  privilege  that  exempted  him 
from  the  punishments  of  the  criminal  law  of  the  land. 
Under  the  scholastic  system  knowledge  was  founded  on 
theology.  The  chief  text  book  of  the  schoolmen  was  a 
theological  folio  of  over  one  thousand  pages.  Matters  of 
science  were  settled  by  Scripture  texts  and  any  freedom 
of  inquiry  was  frowned  upon.  Galileo  was  one  of  the 
later  victims  of  this  system.  Scattered  over  Europe  there 
were  between  thirty  and  forty  universities,  some  of 
which,  at  the  beginning  of  the  Protestant  era,  had  been 
founded  for  two  centuries.  We  have  already  noted  that 
Wiclif,  in  the  Fourteenth  Century,  was  one  of  the  fore- 
runners among  university  teachers  who  protested  against 


Tnii  Feudal  System.  35 

a  system  "that  made  both  science  and  religion  the  prop- 
erty of  a  clerical  class"  and  because  of  the  exclusive  use 
of  the  Latin  language  closed  the  door  of  knowledge  to  the 
common  people.  The  progress  of  discussion  and  reform 
that  broke  down  the  scholastic  system,  and  through  the 
invention  of  printing  and  the  revival  of  learning,  opened 
the  Bible  and  the  treasures  of  ancient  literature  to  intelli- 
gent men  and  women  of  every  class,  was  an  immense  fac- 
tor of  influence  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  Reforma- 
tion. 

The  causes  that  destroyed  the  feudal  system  and  de- 
veloped the  national  life  of  modern  Europe  was  a  source 
of  radical  changes  in  the  whole  structure  of  society.  This 
system  of  vassalage  had  divided  some  countries  into  lit- 
tle principalities.  These  petty  lordships  were  jealous  of 
control  from  powers  above  them.  In  their  struggles  to 
retain  their  position  many  of  the  feudal  lords  came  under 
the  control  of  stronger  chieftains.  Inheritance  descend- 
ing to  the  eldest  son  and  the  intermarriage  of  some  of 
the  greatest  families  developed  the  royal  house  of  France. 
In  Germany,  where  all  the  male  heirs  shared  in  the  divi- 
sion of  property,  there  was  still  an  ever-increasing  num- 
ber of  petty  lordships.  And  the  feudal  system,  as  we 
shall  see,  was,  in  Germany,  a  source  of  weakness  in  con- 
nection with  the  work  and  progress  of  the  Reformation. 
But  in  a  general  way  the  nations  of  Europe  were  passing 
out  of  the  period  of  subjection  to  a  feudal  nobility  and 
coming  under  the  supremacy  of  their  crowned  kings. 

Commerce  was  building  up  a  multitude  of  towns.  The 
trade  and  manufacturing  interests  of  these  towns  made  a 
market  for  the  peasants.  Under  the  feudal  system  these 
towns  were  mostly  subject  to  feudal  lords,  but  as  their 


36  The:  Re:i^ormation. 

wealth  increased  they  rebelled  against  this  bondage  and 
in  many  cases  they  secured  charters  that  made  them  free 
republics.  In  the  cooperative  plans  that  banded  the  mem- 
bers of  the  same  trades  in  guilds  we  notice  a  phase  of  the 
growing  spirit  of  domocracy  that  was  fostered  through 
commerce.  Not  only  did  the  towns  seek  to  control  their 
local  afifairs  but  they  banded  together  in  opposition  to  the 
feudal  system,  and  gave  their  aid  in  advancing  the  claims 
and  ascendancy  of  the  Crown.  In  their  efforts  to  weaken 
the  hold  of  the  feudal  lords  the  towns  in  many  ways  aided 
the  peasantry  to  break  the  shackles  of  feudal  bondage,  a 
bondage  that  was  made  unbearable  by  the  exactions  of  the 
Church.  Commerce  introduced  money  rents  and  wages 
and  many  of  the  peasants  found  employment  in  the 
towns.  In  France  and  England  especially  their  condition 
was  much  improved. 

The  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  conveyed  the 
products  of  the  East  from  the  Levant  to  the  ports  of 
Italy.  Silk  was  manufactured  in  Italy,  Spain,  and 
France.  The  manufacture  of  woolen  goods  Vv^as  a  north- 
ern industry.  England  was  the  great  wool  growing  coun- 
try. It  kept  busy  the  looms  of  its  eastern  counties  and 
Flanders.  The  rule  of  the  Roman  Church  regarding  Lent 
and  Friday  made  a  market  in  every  part  of  Europe  for 
the  fish  caught  in  vast  quantities  in  the  North  Sea. 
Antwerp  became  the  chief  mart  of  a  commerce  that  en- 
riched the  Netherlands  and  built  up  towns  on  the  Rhine 
and  Danube.  With  wealth  came  the  stirrings  of  inde- 
pendent thought ;  an  enlarged  intellectual  outlook ;  the 
advancement  of  the  arts  of  painting  and  architecture ;  an 
uplift  of  the  masses  out  of  a  condition  of  ignorance  and 
servitude ;  the  rise  of  a  great  and  influential  middle  class  ; 


The  Crusadks.  37 

a  class  from  which  were  to  come  the  leaders  of  national 
and  religious  reform. 

In  this  stirring  of  a  new  life  the  Crusades  of  the 
Eleventh  and  Twelfth  Centuries  played  an  important 
part.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  primary  force  that 
set  in  motion  the  armies  that  under  the  standard  of  the 
Cross  had  for  their  purpose  the  deliverance  of  the  Holy 
Land  from  the  Mohammedans,  was  the  Church.  An  Ox- 
ford scholar  in  summing  up  the  historic  record  of  this 
movement  says :  "The  Crusades  remain  a  wonderful  and 
perpetually  astonishing  act  in  the  great  drama  of  human 
life.  They  touched  the  summits  of  daring  and  devotion, 
if  they  also  sank  into  the  deep  abysms  of  shame.  Motives 
of  self-interest  may  have  lurked  in  them — other  worldly 
motives  of  buying  salvation  for  a  little  price,  or  worldly 
motives  of  achieving  riches  and  acquiring  lands.  Yet  it 
would  be  treason  to  the  majesty  of  man's  incessant  strug- 
gle towards  an  ideal  good,  if  one  were  to  deny  that  in 
and  through  the  Crusades  men  strove  for  righteousness' 
sake  to  extend  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth.  There- 
fore the  tears  and  the  blood  shed  were  not  unavailing; 
the  heroism  and  the  chivalry  were  not  wasted.  Humanity 
is  the  richer  for  the  memory  of  these  millions  of  men, 
who  followed  the  pillar  of  cloud  and  fire  in  the  sure  and 
certain  hope  of  an  eternal  reward.  The  ages  were  not 
dark  in  which  Christianity  could  gather  itself  together  in 
a  common  cause,  and  carry  the  flags  of  its  faith  to  the 
grave  of  the  Redeemer;  nor  can  we  but  give  thanks  for 
their  memory,  even  if  for  us  religion  is  of  the  spirit,  and 
Jerusalem  in  the  heart  of  every  man  who  believes  in 
Christ." 


38  The  Reformation. 

As  regards  political  conditions  at  the  dawn  of  the  Six- 
teenth Century,  we  find  that  the  medieval  Church  was 
their  controlling  source.  This  fact  was  a  primary  factor 
in  bringing  about  the  Reformation.  Luther  in  his  first 
appeal  to  the  German  people  in  his  Address  to  the  Ger- 
man Nobility,  makes  very  little  reference  to  religious  con- 
ditions. "He  deals  almost  exclusively  with  the  social, 
financial,  educational,  industrial,  and  general  moral  prob- 
lems of  the  day."  The  State  and  the  Church  were  largely 
one.  The  medieval  Church  controlled  ''laws,  lawgivers, 
law  courts  and  lawyers.  It  used  physical  force  to  compel 
men  to  obey  the  laws.  It  kept  prisons.  It  pronounced 
sentence  of  death.  It  was  not  a  voluntary  society.  If 
people  were  not  born  into  it,  they  were  baptized  into  it 
without  assent  on  their  part.  If  they  attempted  to  leave 
it  they  were  treated  as  if  criminally  guilty  and  liable  to  be 
burned."  We  have  already  noted  that  the  beginnings  of 
the  revolt  against  Rome  may  be  traced  back  centuries  be- 
fore the  birth  of  Luther.  It  is  significant  to  recall  that 
the  day  Luther  invited  the  students  at  Wittenberg  to  wit- 
ness the  burning  of  the  "godless  book  of  the  papal  de- 
crees" (December  10,  1520),  he  at  the  same  time  com- 
mitted to  the  flames  the  whole  body  of  the  canon  law. 

While  the  feudal  system  continued  in  its  full  power  we 
must  concede  that  the  Roman  Church  did  much  to  re- 
strain turbulant  and  ignorant  princes  and  protect  the 
weak,  but  "so  soon  as  the  modern  national  state  began 
to  gain  strength,  the  issue  between  secular  rulers  and  the 
bishops  of  Rome  took  a  new  form.  The  clergy  naturally 
stoutly  defended  the  powers  which  they  had  long  enjoyed 
and  believed  to  be  rightly  theirs.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
State  which  could  count  upon  the  support  of  an  ever- 


Church  and  State.  39 

increasing  number  of  prosperous  and  loyal  subjects, 
sought  to  protect  its  own  interests  and  showed  itself  less 
and  less  inclined  to  tolerate  the  extreme  claims  of  the 
pope.  Moreover,  owing  to  the  spread  of  education,  the 
king  was  no  longer  obliged  to  rely  mainly  upon  the  as- 
sistance of  the  clergy  in  conducting  his  government."^ 

The  era  of  the  Protestant  Reformation  was  one  in 
which  political  forces  evolved  the  life  of  the  modern  na- 
tions of  Europe.  Martin  Luther,  and  Lutheranism  as  a 
Church  organization,  were  but  prominent  factors  in  the 
drama  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  in  which  Protestantism 
was  the  leader  of  a  Reformed  Church  and  the  foundation 
builder  of  a  new  domocracy  that  gave  the  State  its  right- 
ful place  and  authority. 

^Professor  J.  H.  Robinson,  The  Encyclopedia  Brittanica,  Vol. 
XXIII,  p.  6. 


CHAPTER  V. 
The  Oxford  Reformers, — Coeet,  Erasmus,  More. 

Our  story  again  takes  us  back  to  England,  the  ''Old 
Home,"  from  which  American  Christianity  has  so  largely 
drawn  its  life.  For  a  brief  space  we  recall  some  of  the 
influences,  aside  from  ecclesiastical  conditions,  that  pre- 
pared Colet,  Erasmus  and  other  Oxford  scholars  for  their 
providential  work  in  the  revolution  that  opened  the  era 
of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  Among  the  most  potent 
of  these  influences  was  the  revival  of  learning  that  found 
its  centre  in  the  city  of  Florence.  The  capture  of  Con- 
stantinople by  the  Turks  compelled  the  Greek  scholars 
within  its  walls  to  seek  a  new  home.  It  was  not  strange 
that  many  of  them  turned  their  steps  towards  the  pros- 
perous and  public  spirited  city  on  the  Arno.  The  mag- 
nificent dome  of  the  cathedral,  that  the  genius  of  Bru- 
nelleschi  had  conceived  and  recently  erected,  overlooked 
one  of  the  fairest  scenes  in  all  Europe.  As  wealth  made 
its  citizens  opulent  they  became  the  patrons  of  art  and 
the  custodians  of  the  newly  opened  treasures  of  ancient 
Greek  and  Roman  literature;  treasures  that  had  been  lost 
beneath  the  accumulated  debris  of  the  labors  of  the 
schoolmen  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  intellectual  stag- 
nation of  the  ritualistic  routine  of  the  monasteries.  The 
coming  of  the  exiled  Greek  scholars  to  Florence  was  at 
the  opening  of  an  era  of  world  expansion  that  was  to  turn 
the  currents  of  European  life  from  its  old  channels.  Co- 
lumbus had  discovered  a  New  World.  Sebastian  Cabot 
had  raised  the  standard  of  England  upon  the  shores  of 

40 


Fi^or^nce:  thi:  Ci^ntre;  of  the:  Nkw  Learning.     41 

what  is  now  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  North  America. 
A  discovery  momentous  in  its  bearing  upon  the  history 
of  Evangelical  Christianity.  Portuguese  sailors  had 
rounded  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  found  their  adven- 
turous way  to  India.  The  Mediterranean  was  alive  with 
a  commerce  that  was  pouring  wealth  into  the  coffers  of 
the  merchants  of  Venice  and  Florence  and  making  these 
cities  the  repositories  of  precious  manuscripts  that  pre- 
served the  wonderful  masterpieces  of  Greek  and  Roman 
letters  produced  in  the  days  of  the  Caesars  and  the  spring 
time  of  Grecian  history. 

The  hour  had  come  when  the  fruits  of  the  genius  of 
earlier  days  and,  above  all,  the  revealed  message  of  the 
Scriptures,  was  to  become  the  possession  not  only  of  a 
few  scholars,  but  of  the  common  people.  The  invention 
of  printing  was  the  opening  of  a  window  through  which 
the  light  of  Divine  Truth  streamed  alike  into  palaces, mon- 
asteries, and  peasant  homes,  giving  the  message  of  the 
Bible  to  men  struggling  to  free  themselves  from  the  bond- 
age of  feudalistic  institutions.  Florence,  as  the  centre  of 
the  New  Learning,  attracted  the  attention  of  the  scholars 
that  thronged  the  universities  that  now  existed  in  Spain, 
France,  Italy,  Germany,  and  England.  The  ''Modern 
Athens"  filled  with  the  spirit  of  a  revived  interest  in  the 
works  of  the  old  Greek  and  Latin  writers,  became  the 
home  of  men  who  found  in  Plato  the  highest  ideals  of 
philosophy.  Disgusted  with  the  corruption  that  marked 
the  lives  of  the  ecclesiastical  leaders  and  the  monks  and 
priests  of  the  Roman  Church,  they  discarded  Christianity 
and  sought  to  enthrone  pagan  literature  and  pagan  skep- 
ticism in  the  life  of  the  people. 


42  Thk  Reformation. 

The  times  demanded  a  providential  leader.  Suddenly 
he  stands  before  us  as  his  burning  message  falls  upon  the 
startled  multitude  that  crowds  the  great  cathedral  at 
Florence.  Savonarola  came  to  his  mission,  as  did  Paul 
and  Wiclif  and  Luther,  with  a  providential  preparation. 
Born  in  a  home  where  every  educational  advantage  was 
given  to  him,  he,  like  Luther,  against  his  father's  wish, 
turned  from  the  profession  of  a  learned  doctor  to  seek 
the  quiet  and  seclusion  of  a  monastery  cell.  As  he  studied 
the  Bible  and  tested  the  life  about  him,  in  Church  and 
State,  by  its  precepts,  his  soul  caught  fire.  As  early  as 
'i486  he  preached  sermons  that  flayed  the  Papal  Court 
as  the  source  of  evils  that  had  poisoned  the  entire  life 
of  the  Church.  The  flame  of  his  hot  indignation  con- 
sumed his  energies  until  the  hour  in  1498,  when,  by  the 
mandate  of  a  pope  guilty  "of  murder  and  unheard-of 
crimes,"  his  worn,  emaciated  body  was  burned  within  a 
few  steps  of  the  cathedral  where  untold  thousands  had 
listened  to  messages  the  echoes  of  which  have  come  down 
through  the  passing  centuries.  The  history  of  modern 
Italy  may  be  traced  back  to  the  springs  of  living  waters 
that  were  opened  up  in  Florence  and  the  surrounding 
country  by  Savonarola,  the  great  Florentine  reformer. 

It  was  especially  in  England  that  the  revival  of  learning 
gave  a  tremendous  impetus  to  a  spirit  of  religious  reform 
that  in  time  made  it  a  land  where  Protestant  ideals  were 
triumphant.  Among  the  Oxford  students  who  bent  their 
steps,  at  the  earliest  opportunity,  towards  Florence,  were 
John  Colet,  Desiderius  Erasmus,  and  Thomas  More.  All 
of  these  great  men  lived  and  died  in  the  communion  of 
the  Roman  Church,  only  one  of  them  met  a  martyr's 
death,  and  in  his  case  political  rather  than  ecclesiastical 


John  Coi^dt.  43 

offenses  brought  the  head  of  Thomas  More  under  the 
ax  of  the  executioner. 

John  Colet,  in  many  respects,  was  a  remarkable  man. 
The  son  of  a  lord  mayor  of  London  at  an  early  age  he 
decided  to  become  a  priest  in  the  Church.  In  Florence 
he  studied  both  Plato  and  the  Bible  and  returned  to  Ox- 
ford an  enthusiastic  follower  of  the  Florentine  reformers 
and  filled  with  zeal  for  the  new  learning. 

As  a  lecturer  at  the  university  on  St.  Paul's  Epistles, 
he  sought  to  bring  the  students  who  thronged  about  him 
to  the  fountain  head  of  the  waters  of  Life.  It  was  indeed 
a  new  revelation.  From  time  immemorial  monks  and 
priests  had  been  utterly  ignorant  of  the  New  Testament, 
except  as  portions  of  it  were  incorporated  in  the  ritual 
that  they  perfunctorily  recited  with  superstitious  drone. 
Colet,  by  his  scholarly  lectures,  completely  revolutionized 
the  theological  thought  of  Oxford.  The  works  of  the 
schoolmen  were  dethroned  from  the  place  of  supreme  au- 
thority they  had  held  so  long  and  Christian  thought 
wrought  mighty  spiritual  changes  in  the  hearts  of  young 
men  who  were  to  aid  in  laying  the  foundations  of  Protest- 
antism in  Great  Britain. 

While  pursuing  his  studies  in  Italy,  Colet,  like  Luther 
a  little  later,  had  his  eyes  opened  to  the  corruptions  of  the 
Papal  Court  that  had  infected  every  rank  of  the  priest- 
hood and  society.  With  no  uncertain  voice  he  condemned 
the  evils  of  his  times.  ''Whereas,"  he  exclaims,  *'if  the 
clergy  lived  in  the  love  of  God  and  their  neighbors,  how 
soon  would  their  true  piety,  religion,  charity,  goodness 
towards  men,  simplicity,  patience,  tolerance  of  evil,  con- 
quer evil  with  good !  How  would  it  stir  up  the  minds  of 
men  everywhere  to  think  well  of  the  Church  of  Christ." 


44  The:  Rei^ormation. 

In  a  spirit  of  mingled  "grief  and  tears,"  he  condemned 
the  popes,  whose  Hves  had  brought  such  shame  and  scan- 
dal upon  Christendom,  as  "wickedly  distilling  poison,  to 
the  destruction  of  the  Church."  In  an  outburst  of  vehe- 
ment denunciation  of  the  evils  that  were  sapping  the  life 
of  society  he  cries  out,  "Oh,  Jesus  Christ,  wash  for  us 
not  'our  feet  only,  but  also  our  hands  and  our  head' ! 
Otherwise  our  disordered  Church  cannot  be  far  from 
death." 

"The  great  fabric  of  belief  built  up  by  the  medieval 
doctors,"  says  Green, ^  "appeared  to  Colet,  as  simply  'the 
corruptions  of  the  schoolmen.'  In  the  life  and  sayings 
of  its  founder  he  found  a  simple  and  rational  Christianity, 
whose  fittest  expression  was  the  Apostles'  Creed.  'About 
the  rest,'  he  said  with  characteristic  impatience,  'let  di- 
vines dispute  as  they  will.'  Of  his  attitude  towards 
the  coarser  aspects  of  the  current  religion  his  behavior  at 
a  later  time  before  the  famous  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  at 
Canterbury  gives  us  a  rough  indication.  As  the  blaze  of 
its  jewels,  its  costly  sculptures,  its  elaborate  metal  work, 
burnt  on  Colet's  view,  he  suggested  with  bitter  irony  that 
a  saint  so  lavish  to  the  poor  in  his  lifetime  would  certainly 
prefer  that  they  should  possess  the  wealth  heaped  round 
him  since  his  death.  With  petulant  disgust  he  rejected 
the  rags  of  the  martyr  which  were  offered  for  his  adora- 
tion, and  the  shoe  which  was  offered  for  his  kiss.  The 
earnestness,  the  religious  zeal,  the  very  impatience  and 
want  of  sympathy  with  the  past,  which  we  see  in  every 
word  and  act  of  the  man,  burst  out  in  the  lectures  which 
he  delivered  at  Oxford.    Even  to  the  most  critical  among 

^History  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  I,  p.  382. 


DivSiDi;Rius  Erasmus.  45 

his  hearers  he  seemed  iike  one  inspired,  raised  in  voice, 
eye,  his  whole  countenance  and  mien,  out  of  himself.' 
Severe  as  v^as  the  outer  life  of  the  new  teacher,  a  severity 
marked  by  his  plain  black  robe  and  the  frugal  table  which 
he  preserved  amidst  his  later  dignities,  his  lively  conver- 
sation, his  frank  simplicity,  the  purity  and  nobleness  of 
his  life,  even  the  keen  outbursts  of  his  troublesome  tem- 
per endeared  him  to  his  students  and  the  group  of  emi- 
nent scholars  with  whom  he  was  associated." 

In  this  group  the  foremost  figure  is  Erasmus.  Unlike 
Colet,  this  great  scholar  was  cradled  in  poverty.  In  or- 
phan loneliness,  thrust  into  a  monastery  by  dishonest 
guardians  who  sought  to  filch  from  him  the  scanty  means 
he  had  inherited,  he  left  his  monk's  cell  as  soon  as  he  at- 
tained his  majority  and  earned  his  living  by  giving  lessons 
to  private  pupils  while  attending  the  University  of  Paris. 
The  generosity  of  an  English  nobleman  enabled  him  to 
gain  a  coveted  mastery  of  the  Greek  language  at  Oxford. 
Colet  and  More  with  Grocyn,  and  Linacre,  became  his 
close  friends.  "When,"  he  writes  in  a  letter,  "I  listen  to 
my  friend  Colet,  it  seems  to  me  like  listening  to  Plato 
himself.  In  Grocyn,  who  can  but  admire  the  wide  range 
of  his  knowledge?  What  could  be  more  searching,  deep, 
and  refined  than  the  judgment  of  Linacre?  Whenever 
did  nature  mould  a  character  more  gentle,  endearing,  and 
happy  than  Thomas  More's?" 

Every  one  of  these  men  was  gifted  with  marked  genius, 
but  in  industry,  breadth  of  classical  knowledge,  and  acute- 
ness  of  mind  the  place  of  leadership  must  be  given  to 
Erasmus.  He  owed  much  to  Colet.  for  it  was  from  him 
he  caught  the  spirit  of  religious  zeal.  In  his  eagerness 
to  master  Greek  he  decided  to  go  to  Italy.     In  response 


46  The  Reformation. 

to  the  urgent  request  of  Colet  that  he  remain  by  his  side 
at  Oxford  Erasmus  replied:  "When  I  feel  that  I  have 
the  needful  firmness  and  strength,  I  will  join  you."  Com- 
ing days  were  to  witness  the  fulfillment  of  this  promise. 
For  nine  years  (i 500-1 509)  this  little  band  of  Oxford 
students  were  scattered.  It  was  a  time  of  marvelous  in- 
tellectual and  spiritual  ferment.  It  is  said  that  in  the 
last  thirty  years  of  the  Fifteenth  Century  all  of  the  great 
Latin  authors  were  made  accessible  to  the  poorest  student 
by  the  recently  invented  printing  press.  Ten  thousand 
editions  of  books  and  pamphlets  were  estimated  to  have 
been  published  in  these  decades.  Within  twenty  years  of 
the  opening  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  the  literature  of 
Greece  was  placed  within  the  reach  of  all  who  mastered 
its  language.  As  never  before  **men  opened  their  eyes 
and  saw."^ 

Erasmus  started  for  Italy  in  1500,  but  was  stopped  at 
Dover  and  literally  robbed  by  custom-house  officials  of  all 
his  money.  Compelled  to  discontinue  his  journey  he  con- 
tinued his  studies  in  France.  Colet  remained  at  Oxford 
until  he  was  made  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  and  became  a  resi- 
dent of  London.  More  gained  rapid  advancement  in  the 
legal  profession  and  in  early  manhood  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  Parliament. 

Erasmus  visiting  England  in  1505  found  his  Oxford 
friends  all  living  in  London.  Colet  had  married  and  in 
his  home  we  can  imagine  the  consultation  was  held  that 
resulted  in  replenishing  the  empty  purse  of  Erasmus  and 
sending  him  rejoicing  on  his  way  to  Italy.  In  1509 
Henry  VIII.  ascended  the  throne  of  England.    The  early 

iTaine.    History  of  English  Literature. 


Tn^  Engijsii  Rel^ormkrs.  47 

years  of  his  reign  gave  slight  token  of  his  cruel,  imperious 
will  that,  in  its  sensual  and  ambitious  purposes,  wrought 
such  vast  changes  in  the  civil  and  religious  fabric  of  the 
English  government  and  the  life  of  the  people.  Generous 
and  open  handed  in  the  use  of  the  immense  wealth  his 
father  had  bequeathed  to  him  the  gifted  young  prince 
won  popular  favor,  and  older  men  prophesied  the  dawn 
of  better  days.  Fond  of  learning  and  an  apt  and  indus- 
trious student  he  did  not  forget  the  promising  Oxford 
scholars  with  some  of  whom  he  was  personally  acquaint- 
ed. Colet  was  made  court  preacher.  More  was  given 
the  prominent  position  of  an  under  sheriff  of  London, 
and  Erasmus  was  recalled  from  Italy  and  made  professor 
of  Greek  at  Cambridge.  It  was  indeed  a  halcyon  time 
of  promise.  Leading  churchmen  became  the  patrons  both 
of  letters  and  reform.  Langton,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 
we  are  told,  "took  delight  in  examining  the  young  schol- 
ars of  his  episcopal  family  every  evening  and  sent  all  the 
most  promising  of  them  to  study  across  the  Alps."  War- 
ham,  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  became  the  close  and 
helpful  friend  of  Erasmus.  A  friendship  that  found 
beautiful  laudation  in  the  great  scholars  preface  to  his 
edition  of  St.  Jerome.  While  leisurely  returning  from 
Italy  on  horseback  Erasmus  outlined  a  satire  in  Latin  on 
the  follies  of  the  age  that  he  completed  in  the  home  of 
More  in  London.  The  'Traise  of  Folly"  made  an  im- 
mense stir  and  proved  an  effective  weapon  of  reform. 
The  followers  of  the  schoolmen  were  addressed  by  Folly 
in  her  cap  and  bells  as  "fellow  fools" — men  who  pro- 
fessed to  know  everything  and  yet  had  not  time  to  read 
the  Gospels  or  Epistles  of  St.  Paul. 


48  The:  Rki^ormation. 

Following  the  publication  of  this  little  book  Erasmus 
entered  on  his  duties  as  professor  at  Cambridge  and  soon 
took  up  the  work  that  was  to  have  so  prominent  a  place 
in  the  record  of  these  days.  Over  a  century  had  elapsed 
since  the  death  of  Wiclif,  but  his  works  still  followed 
him.  Copies  of  his  Bible  had  been  carefully  preserved. 
They  had  been  read  in  secret  places  by  men  that  knew 
that  if  they  were  detected  the  penalty  of  death  would  be 
inflicted.  The  seed  truth  of  the  kingdom  had  found  lodg- 
ment in  many  hearts  and  now  with  the  revival  of  letters 
and  the  invention  of  the  printing  press  the  providential 
hour  had  arrived  when  the  oracles  of  God  were  to  be  un- 
sealed and  Christian  faith  and  knowledge  again  become 
a  source  of  spiritual  power  in  the  hearts  of  men.  In  15 16 
— the  year  before  Luther  affixed  his  theses  to  the  church 
door  at  Wittenberg — Erasmus  saw  the  completion  of  his 
monumental  labors  in  the  printing  at  Basle  of  the  first 
edition  of  his  translation  of  the  Greek  New  Testament. 
In  this  edition  in  columns  side  by  side  was  the  original 
Greek  text  and  his  own  new  Latin  translation.  **I  wish," 
said  Erasmus  in  his  preface,  "that  even  the  weakest 
woman  should  read  the  Gospels — should  read  the  Epistles 
of  Paul ;  and  I  wish  that  they  were  translated  into  all 
languages,  so  that  they  might  be  read  and  understood, 
not  only  by  Scots  and  Irishmen,  but  also  by  Turks  and 
Saracens.  I  long  that  the  husbandmen  should  sing  por- 
tions of  them  to  himself  as  he  follows  the  plough,  that  the 
weaver  should  hum  them  to  the  tune  of  his  shuttle,  that 
the  traveller  should  beguile  with  their  stories  the  tedium 
of  his  journey." 


Thic  Beginning  of  a  Nkw  Era. 


49 


It  is  well  for  all,  especially  those  of  English  ancestry, 
to  remember  that  these  days,  in  which  we  stand  upon  the 
threshold  of  the  era  of  the  Protestant  Reformation, 
marked  the  spring  time  of  what  may  be  called  the  history 
of  modern  England  and  the  beginnings  of  American  his- 
tory. The  picture  drawn  by  the  fascinating  pen  of 
Froude  vividly  discloses  the  changes  that  were  bringing 
to  life  a  transformed  world.  ''The  paths  trodden  by  the 
footsteps  of  ages  were  broken  up :  old  things  were  pass- 
ing away,  and  the  faith  and  the  life  of  ten  centuries  were 
dissolving  like  a  dream.  Chivalry  was  dying;  the  abbey 
and  the  castle  were  soon  together  to  crumble  into  ruins ; 
and  all  the  forms,  desires,  beliefs,  convictions,  of  the  old 
world  were  passing  away  never  to  return.  A  new  con- 
tinent had  risen  up  beyond  the  western  sea.  The  floor  of 
heaven,  inlaid  with  stars,  had  sunk  back  into  an  infinite 
abyss  of  immeasurable  space;  and  the  firm  earth  itself, 
unfixed  from  its  foundations,  was  seen  to  be  but  a  small 
atom  in  the  awful  vastness  of  the  universe.  In  the  fabric 
of  habit  which  they  had  so  laboriously  built  for  them- 
selves, mankind  were  to  remain  no  longer.  And  now  it 
is  all  gone — like  an  unsubstantial  pageant  faded ;  and  be- 
tween us  and  the  old  English  there  lies  a  gulf  of  mystery 
which  the  prose  of  the  historian  will  never  adequately 
bridge.  They  cannot  come  to  us,  and  our  imagination 
can  but  feebly  penetrate  to  them.  Only  among  the  aisles 
of  the  cathedral,  only  as  we  gaze  upon  their  silent  figures 
sleeping  on  their  tombs,  some  faint  conceptions  float  be- 
fore us  of  what  these  men  were  when  they  were  alive ; 
and  perhaps  the  sound  of  church  bells,  that  peculiar  cre- 
ation of  medieval  age,  which  falls  upon  the  ear  like  the 
echo  of  a  vanished  world." 
4 


50  The  Reformation. 

In  this  period  of  change  that  brought  about  the  tran- 
sition of  England  from  a  CathoHc  to  a  Protestant  coun- 
try we  discover  the  most  potent  instrumentahty  in  the 
"open  Bible,"  that  the  hand  of  WicHf  passed  on  to  Colet 
and  Erasmus,  and  they  in  turn  to  Tyndale  and  others 
who  gave  its  precious  treasures  to  the  people  in  their 
'Vulgar  tongue."  The  Greek  New  Testament  of  Erasmus 
aroused  the  bitter  resentment  of  priests,  monks  and  scho- 
lastic divines  who  looked  upon  the  old  Vulgate  version 
with  feeling  akin  to  Israelitish  eyes  that  gazed  upon  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant.  No  doubt  the  pagan  skepticism 
that  had  been  spread  abroad  with  the  revival  of  Greek 
literature,  strengthened  this  opposition.  But  in  vain 
were  these  voices,  clamoring  for  the  ''old  ways,"  raised 
in  bitter  denunciation.  The  new  translation  from  the 
tongue  in  which  the  Master  and  His  Apostles  uttered 
their  message  "became  the  topic  of  the  day;  the  court, 
the  universities,  every  household  to  which  the  New 
Learning  had  penetrated,  read  and  discussed  it.  But  bold 
as  its  language  may  have  seemed,  Warham  not  only  ex- 
pressed his  approbation,  but  lent  the  work — as  he  wrote 
to  its  author — 'to  bishop  after  bishop.*  The  most  influ- 
ential of  his  suffragans,  Bishop  Fox  of  Winchester,  de- 
clared that  the  mere  version  was  worth  ten  commen- 
taries."^ The  genius  of  Thomas  More  added  the  con- 
tribution of  his  genial  and  imaginative  power  in  the  publi- 
cation of  his  Utopia.  It  was  a  dream  that  has  become 
the  hope  of  democracy ;  a  dream  that  has  not  vanished  in 
the  smoke  and  carnage  of  the  awful  conflict  that  has 
made  blood  red  the  skies  that  have  overarched  Christian 

^Green's  History  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  I,  p.  385. 


The:  Dawn  of  a  Christian  Democracy.  51 

Europe  in  the  second  decade  of  the  Twentieth  Century ; 
a  dream  that  as  a  reaHty  may  be  nearer  than  we  now 
think ;  an  hour  betokening  the  final  overthrow  of  mon- 
archical and  hierarchical  power,  and  the  triumphs  of 
democratic  institutions  so  vividly  delineated  by  the  pen  of 
Thomas  More  four  centuries  ago.  May  not  191 7  prove 
to  be  the  year  that  celebrates  not  only  the  historic  incident 
from  which  we  date  the  era  of  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion, but  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  history  of 
Christianity  and  the  firm  establishment  in  Church  and 
State  of  the  principles  of  Christian  democracy  and 
brotherhood  whose  source  we  trace  back  to  the  teachings 
of  Christ  and  the  institutions  of  the  Church  in  Apostolic 
times  ? 

"More,"  says  Seebohm,^  *'in  his  Utopia  urged  the 
points  which  Erasmus  had  inculcated  in  his  'Christian 
Prince.'  The  Utopians  elected  their  own  king,  as  well  as 
his  council  or  parliament.  They  hated  war  as  the  worst 
of  evils ;  they  aimed  not  at  making  the  king  and  a  few 
nobles  rich,  but  the  whole  people.  All  property  belonged 
to  the  nation,  and  so  all  the  people  were  well  off.  Nor 
was  education  confined  to  one  class ;  in  Utopia  everyone 
was  taught  to  read  and  write.  All  magistrates  and  priests 
were  elected  by  the  people.  Every  family  had  a  vote,  and 
the  votes  were  taken  by  ballot.  Thus  the  keynote  of 
More's  'Utopia'  was,  like  the  'Christian  Prince'  of  Eras- 
mus, that  governments  and  nations  exist  for  the  common 
weal  of  the  whole  people." 

While  these  leaders  in  Oxford,  Cambridge,  and  Lon- 
don were  busy  with  their  pens,  they  were  active  also  in 
pushing  the   work   of    religious   reform.     They  had   no 

^The  Protestant  Revolution,  page  94. 


52  The  Reformation. 

thought  of  the  impending  break  with  Rome,  but  in  the 
spirit  with  which  the  Master  had  driven  the  money  chang- 
ers from  the  outer  courts  of  the  temple  they  sought  to  cast 
out  the  evils  that  threatened  the  life  of  the  Church.  When 
the  fortune  of  his  father  came  into  the  hands  of  Colet  he 
devoted  it  to  founding  a  school  for  boys,  under  the  very 
shadow  of  the  great  cathedral  of  which  he  was  the  Dean. 
This  school,  as  its  founder  hoped,  became  a  nursery  of 
reform  and  the  new  learning.  Its  textbooks  were  pre- 
pared by  Erasmus  and  other  friends,  and  the  Latin  gram- 
mar studied  in  St.  Paul's  school  was  written  by  its 
founder. 

Colet,  at  the  request  of  his  friend  Warham,  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury,  preached  the  opening  sermon  at  a  convo- 
cation that  brought  together  an  assembly  of  bishops  and 
clergy.  In  the  strongest  terms  he  condemned  the  preva- 
lent loose  living  and  immorality  of  the  parish  priests.  In 
the  presence  of  these  ecclesiastics  of  every  rank  he  boldly 
affirmed  that  their  ''worldly  life  was  in  many  instances 
far  worse  heresy"  than  that  of  the  poor  Lollards,  two  of 
whom  had  been  recently  burned  at  Smithfield.  The  rec- 
ord of  these  years  ought  not  to  forget  these  men  who 
were  proud  to  be  known  as  the  successors  of  the  itinerant 
preachers  that  were  first  sent  out  by  Wiclif.  They  emu- 
lated the  spirit  and  courage  of  the  Puritans  of  a  later 
time.  The  movement  they  represented  became  involved 
with  political  issues  and  revealed  a  spirit  of  revolt  among 
the  people  that  foretokened  the  struggles  of  after  years 
that  freed  England  from  the  thralldom  of  Rome  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  a  free  national  life.  Under  the  admin- 
istration of  Archbishop  Arundel  in  1401  they  were  con- 
demned as  heretics,  and  John  Badby  suffered  martyrdom 


Thk  Loi,i.ards.  53 

at  Smithfield  nine  years  later.  Disappointed  in  their  hope 
to  secure  the  support  of  Henry  V.,  some  of  the  more 
fiery  and  reckless  Lollardites,  under  the  leadership  of  Sir 
John  Oldcastle,  plotted  a  conspiracy  that  sought  the  life 
of  the  king.  Discovery  brought  retribution  that  involved 
the  innocent  as  well  as  the  guilty.  Relentless  persecution 
did  not  entirely  destroy  their  life.  As  late  as  143 1  severe 
measures  were  taken  to  repress  another  uprising.  As  a 
source  of  political  trouble  they  disappeared  in  the  strug- 
gles between  the  rival  houses  of  Lancaster  and  York.  The 
religious  reform  they  started  was  taken  over  by  men  rep- 
resenting every  rank  in  society.  Colet,  Erasmus,  and 
More  were  the  successors  of  Wiclif.  We  shall  meet  them 
again  later  on. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Martin  Luther.    His  Boyhood.    Studknt  Days.    Mo- 
nastic Life:  and  Spiritual  ExpkriKncks.    Visit  to 
RoMK.    Professor  at  Wittenberg  University. 

Martin  Luther  was  born  at  Eisleben,  in  Prussian 
Saxony,  November  lo,  1483.  His  father,  John  Luther, 
was  a  man  of  sturdy  qualities  of  character.  His  hours  of 
rest  from  arduous  toil,  as  a  miner  and  furnace  owner, 
vv^ere  largely  given  to  reading,  and  his  collection  of  books 
for  the  times  was  a  very  good  one.  Margaret  (Linde- 
mann),  Luther's  mother,  we  are  told  by  Melanchthon,  was 
considered  a  model  woman  worthy  of  the  imitation  of  the 
mothers  of  the  places  where  she  resided.  ''Modesty,  the 
fear  of  God,  and  devotion,  especially  marked  her  char- 
acter." In  less  than  six  months  after  the  birth  of  Martin 
his  parents  removed  to  Mansfield,  a  short  distance  from 
Eisleben.  In  speaking  once  of  his  boyhood  days  Luther 
said :  *'My  parents  were  very  poor.  My  father  was  a 
wood  cutter,  and  my  mother  has  often  carried  the  wood 
on  her  back,  that  she  might  earn  wherewith  to  bring  us 
children  up.  They  endured  the  hardest  labor  for  our 
sakes."  In  time  a  measure  of  prosperity  came  to  this 
home  of  high  ideals,  industry,  and  religious  spirit.  John 
Luther,  as  the  owner  of  two  small  iron  furnaces,  became 
a  man  of  influence  in  the  community.  Elected  a  member 
of  the  council  of  Mansfield  he  was  brought  in  social  con- 
tact with  the  leading  men  of  the  town  and  ''the  ecclesi- 
astics and  schoolmasters  of  the  place,"  were  often  guests 
at  his  table. 

54 


Early  Lif^  of  Martin  Luther.  55 

While  other  children  were  horn  in  this  home  it  would 
appear  that  Martin  held  in  the  heart  and  thought,  both  of 
his  father  and  mother,  a  place  of  ambitious  solicitude  and 
interest.  A  comment  in  his  later  life  reveals  the  stern 
discipline  that  was  characteristic  in  German  homes  in  the 
Sixteenth  Century.  ''My  parents,"  says  Luther,  ''treated 
me  so  severely  at  times  that  I  became  very  timid.  They 
truly  thought  they  were  doing  right,  but  they  failed  in 
that  discernment  of  character  which  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary, that  we  may  know  when,  on  whom,  and  how,  pun- 
ishment should  be  inflicted."  If  it  is  true  that  the  "boy 
is  father  of  the  man,"  we  can  easily  imagine  that  Martin 
was  not  an  easy  child  to  manage.  Flogging  appears,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  the  favorite  method  of  discipline,  as 
Luther  tells  us  that  the  master  of  the  school  he  attended 
in  Mansfield  whipped  him  fifteen  times  in  one  day.  At 
this  school  he  began  his  study  of  Latin  grammar  and  was 
taught  a  part  of  the  Catechism,  the  Ten  Commandments, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  various  hymns  and  other  reading 
matter. 

Under  the  strict  religious  training  of  both  home  and 
school,  the  physically  strong  and  mentally  alert  lad,  made 
rapid  progress  in  his  studies,  and  his  father  resolved  that 
no  effort  on  his  part  should  be  spared  to  give  his  son  the 
advantages  of  an  education  that  would  enable  him  to 
enter  one  of  the  learned  professions.  When  he  was  four- 
teen he  was  sent  to  the  school  of  the  Franciscans  at 
Magdeburg.  He  was  accompanied  with  a  boyhood  com- 
panion, John  Reinecke,  who  became  a  lifelong  friend. 

Luther,  in  the  story  he  has  left  us  of  his  boyhood  days, 
gives  us  glimpses  of  the  privations  that  were  a  part  of 
his  experiences.    "I  was  accustomed,"  he  says,  "with  my 


56  The  Reformation. 

companions  to  beg  a  little  food  to  supply  our  wants.  One 
day  about  Christmas  time,  we  were  going  all  together 
through  the  neighboring  villages,  from  house  to  house, 
singing  in  concert  the  usual  carols  on  the  infant  Jesus 
born  at  Bethlehem.  We  stopped  in  front  of  a  peasant's 
house  which  stood  detached  from  the  rest  at  the  extremity 
of  the  village.  The  peasant  hearing  us  sing  our  Christ- 
mas carols,  came  out  with  some  food  which  he  meant  to 
give  us,  and  asked  in  a  rough,  loud  voice,  'Where  are 
you,  boys?'  Terrified  at  these  words,  we  ran  away  as 
fast  as  we  could.  We  had  no  reason  to  fear,  for  the  peas- 
ant offered  us  this  assistance  in  kindness ;  but  our  hearts 
were  no  doubt  become  fearful  from  the  threats  and  tyr- 
anny which  the  masters  then  used  towards  their  scholars, 
so  that  we  were  seized  with  sudden  fright.  At  last,  how- 
ever, as  the  peasant  still  continued  to  call  after  us,  we 
stopped,  forgot  our  fears,  ran  to  him,  and  received  the 
food  that  he  offered  us.  It  is  thus,"  continues  the  great 
Reformer  in  reminiscent  mood,  "that  we  tremble  and  flee 
when  our  conscience  is  guilty  and  alarmed.  Then  we  are 
afraid  even  of  the  help  that  is  offered  us,  and  of  those 
who  are  our  friends,  and  wish  to  do  us  good." 

Within  a  year  Luther  left  Magdeburg  and  attended  a 
well  known  school  at  Eisnach.  He  had  relatives  in  this 
place,  but  evidently  they  gave  him  no  especial  assistance, 
and  we  find  him  again  singing  in  the  streets,  with  other 
school  boys,  to  earn  a  morsel  of  bread.  While  this  cus- 
tom has  survived  in  Germany  even  into  modern  times, 
it  was  a  source  of  deep  humiliation  to  the  sensitive  lad 
who  little  realized  the  honor  with  which  the  townsman 
of  Eisnach  would  receive  him  in  later  years.  A  door  soon 
opened  that  gave  him  a  shelter  from  these  experiences. 


ScHooi.  Day  ExpivRiivNcks.  57 

One  day,  after  having  been  turned  away  with  harsh 
words  from  several  houses,  he  was  about  returning  de- 
pressed and  hungry  to  his  lodgings.  He  stood  for  a  mo- 
ment, wondering  if  it  was  not  best  for  him  to  give  up  the 
struggle  to  secure  an  education  and  earn  a  living  in  his 
father's  employ  as  a  miner  at  Mansfield.  Just  then  the 
door  of  the  house,  in  front  of  which  he  was  standing, 
opened,  and  a  kindly  voice  and  hand  beckoned  him  to 
enter. 

This  welcome  from  the  wife  of  Conrad  Cotta,  a  daugh- 
ter of  the  burgomaster  of  Eilfeld,  was  the  beginning  of  a 
friendship  that  brought  relief  and  enabled  Luther  to  con- 
tinue his  studies.  Conrad  no  sooner  became  acquainted 
with  the  lad  whom  his  wife  had  befriended  than  he  urged 
him  to  make  his  house  his  home.  A  new  life  opened  to 
the  young  scholar  and  with  quickened  interest  he  made 
rapid  progress  in  his  studies.  It  was  at  this  time  that 
his  musical  genius  began  to  find  expression.  He  learned 
to  play  on  the  flute  and  lute  and  the  home  of  Conrad  Cotta 
first  enjoyed  his  mastery  of  the  art  that  was  to  be  the 
source  of  abiding  pleasure,  even  to  old  age,  of  the  future 
author  of  "Ein  Feste  Burg,"  and  other  beautiful  German 
hymns,  some  of  which  have  become  the  common  heritage 
of  Protestant  homes  of  every  land  and  language. 

In  after  years,  recalling  the  memories  of  his  early 
school  day  privations,  and  his  relief  through  the  kindness 
and  affection  of  the  Cotta  home,  Luther  writes :  "Do  not 
despise  the  boys  who  try  to  earn  their  bread  by  chanting 
before  your  door,  'bread  for  the  love  of  God'  (Panium 
propter  Deum).  I  have  done  the  same.  It  is  true  that 
in  later  years  my  father  maintained  me  at  the  University 
of  Erfurth,  with  much  love  and  kindness,  supporting  me 


58  Thi:  Reformation. 

by  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  but  at  one  time  I  was  only  a 
poor  mendicant.  And  now  by  means  of  my  pen,  I  have 
succeeded  so  well,  that  I  would  not  change  fortunes  with 
the  Grand  Seignor  himself.  I  may  say  more:  if  I  were 
to  be  offered  all  the  possessions  of  the  earth  heaped  one 
upon  an  another  I  would  not  take  them  in  exchange  for 
what  I  possess.  And  yet  I  should  never  have  known 
what  I  do,  if  I  had  not  been  in  school,  and  been  taught 
to  write." 

These  were  happy  boyhood  days.  Standing  at  the 
head  in  all  his  studies,  he  gave  promise  of  those  qualities 
of  courage  and  leadership  that  marked  his  after  life. 
Melanchthon,  in  his  reminiscences  of  the  student  days  of 
Luther,  tells  the  story  of  his  special  esteem  for  one  of  his 
teachers,  John  Trebonius.  Unlike  his  colleagues,  Tre- 
bonius  treated  his  scholars  with  deferential  respect,  going 
so  far  as  to  lift  his  hat  and  bowing  to  them  as  he  passed 
them.  This  unusual  action  led  one  of  his  fellow  teachers 
to  inquire  the  reason  for  it.  ''There  are,"  said  Trebonius, 
''amongst  these  youths,  some  whom  God  will  one  day 
raise  to  the  ranks  of  burgomasters,  chancellors,  doctors, 
and  magistrates.  Though  you  do  not  now  see  the  out- 
ward signs  of  their  respective  dignities,  it  is  yet  proper 
to  treat  them  with  respect."  The  thought  that  prompted 
the  Eisenach  teacher  to  lift  his  hat  to  the  miner's  son  of 
Mansfield  has  kept  the  memory  of  Trebonius  green  for 
four  hundred  years.  It  is  pleasant  also  to  recall  the  in- 
cident of  later  years  when  Conrad  Cotta  and  his  wife 
Ursala, — of  whom  Luther  once  said  "there  is  nothing 
sweeter  than  the  heart  of  a  pious  woman," — sent  one 
of  their  sons  to  be  educated  at  the  University  of  Witten- 


Student  Days  at  Erfurt.  59 

berg,  the  then  famous  professor  and  preacher  made  him 
a  welcome  guest  in  his  own  home. 

Naturally,  John  Luther  was  very  proud  of  the  reports 
that  came  to  him  of  the  position  that  his  son  had  won  at 
Eisenach.  It  was  his  fond  dream  that  he  should  have  the 
advantages  of  a  university  training  and  follow  the  pro- 
fession of  law.  Already  he  was  confident  that  his  beloved 
son  would  in  time  ''stand  before  princes,"  and  win  high 
official  distinction.  In  1501  Luther  was  enrolled  as  a 
student  in  the  University  of  Erfurt.  Scholastic  phi- 
losophy at  this  time  held  the  place  of  highest  distinction 
in  the  curriculum  of  the  university.  With  wonted  energy 
Luther,  now  eighteen  years  old,  entered  upon  the  study 
of  the  philosophy  found  in  the  writings  of  Aquinas,  Aris- 
totle and  other  schoolmen.  In  these  studies  he  became 
dissatisfied  not  only  with  their  logic  but  imbibed  a  dislike, 
especially  of  Aristotle,  that  aroused  through  his  entire 
life  the  most  vehement  dissent  and  condemnation.  He 
found  relief  from  this  dreary  course  of  philosophy  in 
studying  Cicero,  Virgil,  and  other  classics,  with  a  thor- 
oughness that  made  him  a  master  of  style  and  the  use  of 
language.  His  attainments  were  such,  says  Melanchthon, 
that  ''the  whole  university  admired  his  genius." 

During  the  four  years  that  Luther  pursued  his  studies 
at  Erfurt  he  passed  through  spiritual  experiences  that 
changed  the  entire  current  of  his  life  and  the  plans  which 
were  the  day  dreams  and  hope  of  his  father.  His  early 
religious  home  training  marked,  as  we  have  seen,  by 
rigorous  methods  of  discipline,  was  followed  in  his  early 
school  days  by  disquietude  of  feeling  that  disclosed  a  con- 
science keenly  alive  to  personal  need  and  delinquencies. 
During  his  student  days  at  Erfurt  in  great  soul  loneliness 


6o  The:  Reformation. 

he  passed  through  mental  and  spiritual  conflicts  that 
brought  him  finally  to  decisions  that  were  indeed  for  him 
and  after  history  ''the  parting  of  the  ways."  It  was  at 
this  time  that  the  Bible  first  came  into  his  hands.  He 
had  already  been  in  the  university  two  years  when  in 
looking  through  the  books  in  its  library  he  found  what 
was  then  a  rare  volume — a  complete  copy  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. Up  to  this  period  he  had  supposed  that  the  whole 
of  the  revealed  word  of  God  was  contained  in  the  por- 
tions of  the  gospels  and  epistles  which  the  Church  had 
selected  to  be  read  in  the  churches  and  places  where  its 
members  assembled  for  worship.  This  new  found  book 
Luther  returned  to  read  and  reread.  In  preparation  for 
his  bachelor's  degree  overwork  brought  on  a  severe  ill- 
ness that  threatened  a  fatal  termination.  Among  his 
visitors  was  an  aged  priest  who  had  followed  the  career 
of  the  brilliant  student  with  deep  interest.  Luther  ex- 
pressed his  fear  that  he  would  not  recover.  ''Take  cour- 
age," said  the  aged  friend,  ''you  will  not  die  this  time. 
Our  God  will  yet  make  you  His  instrument  in  comforting 
many  others.  For  God  lays  His  cross  upon  those  whom 
He  loves,  and  those  who  bear  it  patiently  gain  much  wis- 
dom." It  was  a  word  in  season  and  acted  as  a  healthful 
tonic.  With  restored  health  came  a  season  of  more  gra- 
cious spiritual  hope.  In  1505  he  was  made  master  of  arts 
and  was  appointed  a  teacher  of  various  branches  of  phi- 
losophy. 

The  sudden  death  of  an  intimate  college  friend  led  to 
serious  questionings  as  to  his  future.  A  loyal  son  of  the 
Church,  his  mind,  under  the  inspiration  that  had  come 
through  his  discovery  and  study  of  the  Bible,  now  raised 
the  question  as  to  his  choice  of  vocation  in  life.    He  un- 


Spiritual  Expe:ri^nce:s.  6i 

derstood  full  well  the  desires  and  ambition  of  his  father 
who  had  toiled  early  and  late  that  his  gifted  son  might  be 
equipped  to  win  official  anl  legal  honors.  But  the  ques- 
tion constantly  confronted  Luther  in  his  waking  thoughts. 
Ought  he  not  to  dedicate  his  life  to  God  and  the  Church  ? 
From  an  earthly  standpoint  there  were  many  things,  be- 
side the  wish  of  his  father,  that  were  calculated  to  dis- 
suade him  from  turning  aside  from  long  cherished  plans. 
Religion  in  its  ecclesiastical  activities  and  human  repre- 
sentatives had  fallen  into  low  repute  in  the  minds  of  many 
thoughtful  men  and  women.  John  Luther  was  a  type  of 
an  increasing  number  of  laymen  who  despised  the  idle 
life  which  was  led  by  a  large  majority  of  the  priests,  and 
sharply  criticized  conditions  that  revealed  ecclesiastical 
misdoing  and  corruption  in  high,  as  well  as  low,  official 
Church  places. 

During  these  days  of  acute  mental  and  spiritual  ques- 
tionings Luther  spent  his  vacation  in  Mansfield.  On  his 
return  journey  to  Erfurt  he  was  overtaken  by  a  severe 
summer  storm.  A  lightning  bolt  struck  so  near  him  that 
he  was  thrown  to  the  ground.  In  the  terror  of  the  mo- 
ment, ''encompassed"  as  he  afterwards  said,  "with  the 
anguish  and  terror  of  death,"  he  then  and  there  made  the 
vow  to  forsake  the  world  and  devote  his  life  to  the  serv- 
ice of  God.  As  one  of  his  associates  at  the  university 
(Rubianus),  long  afterwards  wrote  to  him:  "Divine 
Providence  foresaw  what  you  would  one  day  become, 
when,  on  your  return  from  your  parents,  the  fire  of 
heaven  struck  you  to  the  ground,  like  another  Paul,  near 
the  city  of  Erfurt,  and  separating  you  from  us  led  you 
to  join  the  Augustine  order." 


62  The  Reformation. 

In  the  loneliness  of  a  personal  weighing  of  contending 
interests  Luther  came  to  the  decision  to  take  upon  himself 
monastic  vows  and  in  the  seclusion  of  an  Augustine  con- 
vent renounce  the  world  and  seek  in  its  quiet  the  spiritual 
peace  for  which  he  longed  with  the  strength  of  his  fervid 
nature.  In  reaching  this  decision  the  youthful  professor 
of  Erfurt  appears  not  to  have  taken  any  friend  into  his 
confidence,  and  even  his  parents  were  ignorant  of  his  pur- 
pose. Then,  as  always,  when  Martin  Luther  after  prayer- 
ful thought,  resolved  upon  a  course  of  action  and  "laid 
his  hand  to  the  plow,"  he  never  stopped  to  look  back. 
After  an  evening  spent  in  joyous  companionship  with  a 
group  of  college  friends  he  made  known  to  them  his  in- 
tention. Before  the  morning  dawned  he  left  his  lodgings, 
with  two  volumes  selected  from  his  library,  Virgil  and 
Plautus,  and  entered  the  convent  of  the  hermits  of  St. 
Augustine.  Luther's  friends  were  amazed  at  his  action. 
His  father  received  the  tidings  with  a  spirit  of  condem- 
nation that  disclosed  how  completely  his  strong  nature 
had  become  absorbed  in  his  hopes  and  ambitions  as  they 
centered  about  the  future  career  of  the  son  for  whose 
education  he  had  made  such  great  sacrifices. 

It  was  a  cruel  blow  to  the  Mansfield  counsellor  who 
detested  the  idle  and  corrupt  lives  of  a  large  proportion 
of  the  monks  of  whom  he  had  knowledge.  In  an  out- 
burst of  angry  grief  he  penned  a  letter  to  Martin  in  which 
he  declared  him  disinherited  from  his  thought  and  love. 
Some  months  later  his  feeling  was  changed  by  a  sorrow 
that  overwhelmed  him  in  the  sudden  death  by  a  prevailing 
epidemic,  of  two  of  his  younger  sons.  Just  at  this  time 
a  report  found  circulation  that  the  monk  of  Erfurt  was 
dead.     "If  the  report  is  not  true,"  said  one  of  John  Lu- 


Luther's  Convent  Liee.  63 

ther's  friends,  '*at  least  sanctify  your  present  affliction  by 
consenting  that  your  son  should  be  a  monk."  ''Well  be  it 
so,"  replied  the  broken-hearted  father,  ''and  God  grant 
that  he  may  be  prospered."  Luther  tells  us  that  after  his 
happy  reconciliation  with  his  honored  and  beloved  father 
he  was  at  one  time  relating  the  incident  of  the  storm  and 
the  lightning  stroke  that  laid  him  prostrate  and  brought 
about  the  experience  that  decided  him  to  enter  a  convent. 
"God  grant,"  said  the  still  unreconciled  foe  of  idle  and 
dissolute  priests,  "that  you  may  not  have  mistaken  a  de- 
lusion of  the  devil  for  a  sign  from  heaven." 

After  the  usual  fashion,  on  entering  the  monastery  at 
Erfurt,  Luther  changed  his  name  to  that  of  Augustine. 
In  later  years,  referring  to  this  action,  he  said:  "What 
can  be  more  mad  and  impious  than  to  renounce  one's 
Christian  name  for  the  sake  of  a  cowl !  It  is  thus  the 
popes  are  ashamed  of  their  Christian  names,  and  show 
thereby  that  they  are  deserters  from  Jesus  Christ." 

Luther's  life  in  the  convent  in  its  opening  days  was 
filled  with  humiliating  experiences.  While  the  monks 
were  overjoyed  at  receiving  into  their  fellowship  the  tal- 
ented young  teacher  of  the  university,  at  the  same  time, 
they  evidently  took  a  low,  human  pleasure,  in  imposing 
upon  him  the  most  menial  duties.  Among  these  tasks 
was  the  opening  and  shutting  of  the  gates ;  winding  the 
clock ;  sweeping  the  church ;  and  cleaning  the  rooms. 
Probably  the  most  distasteful  work  was  that  of  going 
through  the  streets  of  the  city,  where  he  had  been  highly 
honored  in  many  ways,  bearing  a  bread  bag  and  begging 
from  house  to  house  for  food  to  feed  the  lazy  monks  who 
urged  this  duty  upon  him.  He  endured  it  all  without  a 
murmur,  but  the  day  of  deliverance  was  drawing  near. 


64  The:  Reformation. 

The  spirit  of  meekness  in  which  he  met  this  trial  of  faith 
and  patience  attracted  the  attention  of  the  prior  of  the 
convent  and  Luther  was  set  free  from  these  menial  tasks 
and  bidden  to  give  his  time  to  the  studies  he  so  much 
loved. 

The  works  of  St.  Augustine  and  the  early  Fathers  of 
the  Church  were  his  favorite  reading.  In  the  convent 
there  was  a  copy  of  the  Bible  fastened  to  its  place  by  a 
chain ;  more  and  more  he  became  absorbed  in  its  study. 
A  brother  in  the  convent,  of  eminent  ability  as  a  scholar, 
aided  him  in  gaining  a  mastery  both  of  Greek  and  He- 
brew. All  unconsciously  he  was  preparing  himself  to 
give  to  the  German  people  the  great  translation  of  the 
Word  of  God,  that  was  to  be  a  living  power  through 
coming  centuries  in  molding  the  intellectual  and  spiritual 
life  of  German  homes  and  the  national  institutions,  civil, 
educational,  and  religious,  that  sprang  out  of  them. 

Living  a  severe  ascetic  life,  Luther  sought  by  every  pos- 
sible denial,  to  secure  peace  of  soul  and  mind.  **Verily," 
he  once  wrote  to  his  friend  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  "I 
was  a  devout  monk,  and  followed  the  rules  of  my  order 
so  strictly,  that  I  cannot  tell  you  all.  If  ever  a  monk  en- 
tered into  heaven  by  his  monkish  merits,  certainly  I 
should  have  obtained  an  entrance  there.  All  the  monks 
who  know  me  will  confirm  this ;  and  if  it  had  lasted  much 
longer,  I  should  have  become  literally  a  martyr,  through 
watchings,  prayer,  reading  and  other  labours." 

That  tenderness  of  conscience  that  had  marked  the 
character  of  Luther  in  his  boyhood  and  student  days,  be- 
came even  more  keenly  active  amid  the  studies  and  medi- 
tations of  his  convent  seclusion  from  worldly  affairs  and 
ambitions.     Assailed  by  fears  regarding  his  own  worthi- 


Spiritual,  Struggi.es.  65 

ness,  he  was  tossed  hither  and  thither  on  a  stormy  sea  of 
conflicting  emotions.  "When  during  the  time  I  was  a 
monk,"  he  tells  us,  "I  felt  temptations  assail  me.  I  am 
a  lost  man,  thought  I.  Immediately  I  resorted  to  a  thou- 
sand methods  to  appease  the  reproaches  of  my  heart.  I 
confessed  every  day.  But  all  that  was  of  no  use.  Then, 
overwhelmed  with  dejection,  I  distressed  myself  by  the 
multitude  of  my  thoughts.  See,  said  I  to  myself,  thou  art 
envious,  impatient,  passionate:  therefore  wretch  that 
thou  art !  it  is  of  no  use  to  thee  to  have  entered  into  this 
holy  order." 

With  such  flagellations  of  spirit  and  ascetic  habits  the 
young  monk  broke  down  under  the  physical  and  mental 
strain.  One  day  a  friend  found  him  lying  apparently 
lifeless  upon  the  floor  of  his  room.  Not  responding  to 
the  voice  that  sought  to  bring  him  to  consciousness, 
Edemberger  asked  some  of  the  convent  choristers  to  sing 
a  hymn.  The  stricken  monk  responded  to  the  strain  of 
the  melody  he  loved  and  strength  and  consciousness  grad- 
ually returned.  In  these  days  of  spiritual  conflict  and  as- 
siduous study  of  the  Bible  and  the  writings  especially  of 
St.  Augustine,  there  came  to  his  help  a  friendship  that 
was  to  have  a  large  providential  place  in  his  preparation 
for  his  great  life  work.  This  friend,  like  himself,  had 
sought  the  seclusion  of  a  monk's  cell  and  in  its  retirement 
had  devoted  himself  to  learning.  Of  noble  birth,  John 
Staupitz  by  his  scholarly  gifts,  spiritual  mindedness,  and 
genial  manners,  had  already  attracted  the  favorable  re- 
gard of  men  of  high  station  and  official  influence.  The 
Elector  of  Saxony,  Frederic  the  Wise,  became  his  close 
friend  and  adviser.  Under  his  patronage  and  support  he 
became  the  chief  founder  of  the  University  of  Witten- 
5 


66  The:  Rei^ormation. 

berg  and  filled  the  position  of  professor  of  divinity.  He 
had  early  discovered  the  secret  of  the  Christian  life. 
Temperamentally  more  quiet  and  equable  than  Luther 
he  had  found  the  pathway  of  faith  in  Christ  that  had 
brought  soul  peace  and  joy.  Honored  and  beloved,  Stau- 
pitz  had  been  appointed  Vicar-General  of  the  Augustine s 
for  all  Germany.  This  election  gave  proof  that  there 
were  still  those  in  high  official  places  who  were  deeply 
impressed  with  the  need  of  stringent  reforms  in  monas- 
terial  affairs  and  administration.  His  friend,  the  Elector 
of  Saxony,  and  others,  knew  that  Staupitz  was  deeply 
grieved  over  the  prevalent  corruption  in  the  Church  that 
were  patent  to  every  thoughtful  observer:  gross  sins, 
that  were  the  source  of  growing  discontent  and  hostile 
criticism  on  the  part  even  of  the  lowliest  members  of  the 
laity  in  the  towns  and  rural  sections  of  Germany. 

Very  early  in  his  visitations  of  the  convent  at  Erfurt 
Staupitz  made  the  acquaintance  of  Luther.  Their  friend- 
ship grew  apace  and  Luther  opened  his  inmost  heart  to 
his  spiritually  minded  superior.  *'If  you  wish  to  be  truly 
converted,"  said  Staupitz,  "do  not  depend  upon  morti- 
fications and  penances.  Love  Him  who  has  first  loved 
you."  As  Luther  pondered  upon  these  words  the  light 
began  to  break  upon  his  path.  Staupitz  presented  him 
with  a  copy  of  the  Bible  with  the  admonition  that  was 
scarcely  needed :  'Xet  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  be  your 
favorite  occupation." 

During  the  second  year  of  his  convent  life  Luther  suf- 
fered from  a  severe  illness  that  was  attended  with  great 
mental  depression.  An  aged  monk,  to  whom  Luther 
opened  his  heart,  proved  a  messenger  of  spiritual  hope. 
Recalling  the  Apostles'  Creed  he  reminded  his  younger 


Ordained  as  Priest.  67 

brother  of  the  article :  "I  believe  in  the  forgiveness  of 
sins."  ''I  do  believe,''  said  Luther,  ''the  remission  of 
sins."  *'Ah/'  said  his  wise  confidant  and  friend,  "you 
must  not  only  believe  that  David's  or  Peter's  sins  are  for- 
given ;  the  devils  believe  that.  The  commandment  of 
God  is  that  we  believe  our  own  sins  are  forgiven."  With 
these  words  he  repeated  a  passage  from  one  of  St.  Ber- 
nard's sermons.  ''The  testimony  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
applies  to  your  heart  is  this :  Thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee." 
It  was  a  word  in  due  season.  Trusting  in  Christ  and  His 
atoning  grace  the  young  monk  found  rest.  The  clouds  of 
depression  lifted  and  health,  both  physical  and  spiritual, 
was  restored.  At  the  close  of  his  two  years'  novitiate 
Luther  was  ordained  as  priest.  His  father  accepted  his 
son's  urgent  invitation  to  be  present  and  he  was  asked 
to  suggest  the  date  that  was  finally  fixed  for  May  2,  1507. 
Following  his  consecration  Luther  made  frequent  visits 
to  the  parishes  and  convents  in  the  neighborhood  of  Er- 
furt and  early  disclosed  his  gifts  as  a  preacher.  It  was 
through  the  influence  of  Staupitz  that  in  1508  he  was 
appointed  professor  at  the  University  at  Wittenberg. 
He  did  not  cease  to  be  a  monk  and  he  had  his  home  in 
the  convent  of  the  Augustines  where  a  cell  was  assigned 
to  him.  He  taught  physics  and  dialectics.  Writing  to  his 
friend,  John  Braun,  the  curate  of  Eisenach,  he  says :  "I 
am  very  well,  by  God's  favor,  but  that  I  am  compelled 
to  give  my  whole  attention  to  philosophy.  From  the  mo- 
ment of  my  arrival  at  Wittenberg  I  have  longed  to  ex- 
change that  study  for  theology,  I  mean  that  theology 
which  seeks  the  kernel  of  the  nut,  the  pulp  of  the  wheat, 
the  marrow  of  the  bone."  Indefatigable  in  his  studies 
Luther  became  master  of   Greek  and   Hebrew  that  he 


68  The:  Reformation. 

might  better  understand  the  Bible  that  was  to  him  the 
fountain  of  Ife.  At  an  early  date  (March,  1509,)  he 
received  the  degree  of  bachelor  of  divinity,  and  began  a 
series  of  daily  lectures  explanatory  of  the  Psalms  and 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  It  Wcts  in  the  hours  of  prepa- 
ration for  these  discourses  that  the  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith  found  strong  lodgment  in  his  thought  and 
experience. 

The  teaching  of  the  young  professor  attracted  attention 
beyond  his  class-room.  Among  those  who  came  to  hear 
the  comments  of  Luther  on  the  letters  of  St.  Paul  was 
Martin  Pollich,  an  eminent  doctor  of  philosophy,  who 
had  aided  Staupitz  in  the  founding  of  Wittenberg  Uni- 
versity. He  was  deeply  impressed  with  the  originality 
and  spiritual  insight  with  which  Luther  opened  up  the 
"riches  of  grace"  in  the  writings  of  the  great  apostle. 
"This  monk,"  he  prophesied,  "will  put  all  the  doctors  to 
rout ;  he  will  introduce  a  new  style  of  doctrine,  and  will 
reform  the  whole  Church;  he  builds  upon  the  word  of 
Christ ;  and  no  one  in  this  world  can  either  resist  or  over- 
throw that  word,  though  it  should  be  attacked  with  all 
the  weapons  of  philosophers  and  sophists." 

Staupitz  invited  Luther  to  preach  in  the  church  of  the 
Augustines.  He  shrank  from  this  responsibility,  but  his 
friend  would  not  be  denied.  "It  will  be  the  death  of  me." 
protested  Luther.  "I  could  not  stand  it  three  months." 
"And  what  then,"  said  Staupitz.  "In  God's  name  so  be 
it ;  for  in  heaven  also  the  Lord  requires  devoted  and  able 
servants." 

The  services  at  this  time,  while  the  church  building 
was  in  process  of  erection,  were  held  in  a  temporary 
wooden  chapel.    The  pulpit  was  on  a  raised  platform  of 


Fame:  as  a  Preachkr.  69 

planks  and  the  walls  of  the  room  were  propped  on  each 
side  to  save  them  from  falling.  Amid  these  rude  sur- 
roundings the  reformation  messages  of  Luther  were  first 
proclaimed.  One  of  his  contemporaries  (Raymond),  who 
was  his  active  opponent  in  after  years,  placed  on  record 
this  testimony  as  to  the  genius  and  power  of  Luther  as 
a  preacher:  "Gifted  with  a  ready  ?nd  lively  intelligence, 
having  a  retentive  memory,  and  speaking  his  mother 
tongue  with  remarkable  fluency,  Luther  was  surpassed 
in  eloquence  by  none  of  his  contemporaries.  Addressing 
his  hearers  from  his  place  in  the  pulpit,  as  if  he  had  been 
agitated  by  some  powerful  passion,  and  adapting  his  ac- 
tion to  the  words,  he  afifected  their  minds  in  a  surprising 
manner,  and  carried  them  like  a  torrent  whither  he 
would." 

The  congregations  soon  overflowed  the  rude  wooden 
chapel,  and  the  council  of  Wittenberg  invited  him  to 
preach  in  the  city  cathedral.  His  fame  as  a  speaker 
spread  rapidly  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony  came  one  day 
to  hear  him,  and  sealed  by  his  presence  and  interest  the 
universal  praise  of  his  discourses. 

In  1 5 10, — some  say  a  little  later, — an  opportunity  came 
to  Luther  to  visit  Rome  on  an  official  errand  of  impor- 
tance. It  was,  for  him  and  the  world,  a  journey  that 
ended  in  decisions  that  were  to  aid  mightily  in  changing 
the  course  of  history  and  revitalizing  the  spirit  and  teach- 
ings of  Christianity  and  the  Church  of  which  Christ  is  the 
Head.  Luther  no  doubt  hoped  as  he  drew  near  the  capi- 
tal city  of  the  "Holy  Catholic  Church,"  that  he  would  find 
a  simplicity  and  purity  of  life  in  the  monasteries  and 
higher  ecclesiastical  circles,  far  greater  than  in  the  Ger- 
man towns  where  his  life  had  been  spent.    In  this  he  was 


70  The:  Re:formation. 

sadly  disappointed.  He  found  the  tables  of  the  Bene- 
dictine order  in  northern  Italy  spread  with  the  choicest 
viands.  Beautifully  furnished  apartments,  rich  dresses, 
and  luxuries  of  every  sort  marked  the  surroundings  of  a 
convent  life  that  fostered  indolence  and  vice  in  every 
sensual  form. 

During  an  illness  that  overtook  Luther  before  he 
reached  the  gates  of  the  Imperial  City  he  found  help  in 
the  midst  of  depressing  anxieties  as  the  Gospel  promise 
like  a  heavenly  message  came  to  his  relief,  ''The  just 
shall  live  by  faith."  Rome,  upon  her  seven  hills,  im- 
pressed his  strong  emotional  nature  with  thoughts  that  in 
minor  key  have  stirred  the  hearts  of  countless  throngs  of 
pilgrims  and  travellers.  Julius  II.  was  at  this  time  upon 
the  pontifical  throne;  a  man  whose  profane  contempt  of 
sacred  things  is  disclosed  in  the  oath  he  uttered  when 
tidings  were  brought  to  him  that  his  army  had  been  de- 
feated by  the  French  before  Ravenna.  In  anger  throwing 
the  prayer  book,  from  which  he  was  reading,  upon  the 
floor,  he  exclaimed  with  an  impious  curse,  "Well,  now 
thou  art  become  a  Frenchman — Is  it  thus  thou  guardest 
the  Church?"  Turning  in  the  direction  of  the  mountain 
fastnesses  from  whose  arms  he  looked  for  help,  he  cried 
out:   *'Holy  Swiss.     Pray  for  us." 

We  must  not  forget  that  Luther  was  still  a  loyal  Cath- 
olic. He  said  mass  several  times  while  in  Rome.  Deeply 
pained  and  shocked  at  evidence  that  confronted  him.  on 
every  side,  bearing  witness  to  the  corrupt  lives  of  the  Ro- 
man clergy  and  the  unworthy  character  of  many  digni- 
taries of  the  Church,  he  still  hoped  and  prayed  that  de- 
liverance might  come  from  these  conditions  by  spiritual 


Visit  to  Romi:.  71 

forces,  cleansing  and  removing  these  evils  from  within  its 
corporate  life. 

While  bearing  testimony  that  in  places  where  the  word 
of  God  was  faithfully  dispensed  peace  and  good  order 
prevailed  he  afterwards  said  in  an  address  to  the  Nobility 
of  Germany :  ''It  is  incredible  what  sins  and  atrocities  are 
committed  in  Rome ;  they  must  be  seen  and  heard  to  be 
believed.  So  that  it  is  usual  to  say,  If  there  be  a  hell. 
Rome  is  built  above  it;  it  is  an  abyss  from  whence  all 
sins  proceed.'  "  At  another  time  with  the  keen  thrust  of 
his  genius,  in  sarcastic  comment  upon  the  sins  of  evil 
doers,  he  remarked :  "The  nearer  we  approach  to  Rome, 
the  greater  number  of  bad  Christians  do  we  find.  It  is 
commonly  observed,  that  he  who  goes  to  Rome  for  the 
first  time,  goes  to  seek  a  knave  there;  the  second  time 
he  finds  him ;  and  the  third  time  he  brings  him  away  with 
him  under  his  cloak.  But  now,  people  are  become  so 
clever,  that  they  make  the  three  journeys  in  one." 

Luther  did  not  in  his  experiences  at  Rome  lose  his  faith 
in  Christ  and  His  Church.  That  became  more  fixed. 
Under  the  tutelage  of  a  celebrated  rabbi  he  pursued  the 
study  of  Hebrew  and  thus  was  better  equipped  for  the 
great  work  of  translating  the  Bible  into  his  native  tongue. 
We  cannot  omit  the  familiar  story  of  the  day  when  in  the 
spirit  of  penitence  that  had  not  yet  cast  aside  monkish 
fears  and  superstitions  he  climbed,  on  bended  knees,  what 
is  known  as  Pilate's  staircase.  While  engaged  in  this  ex- 
ercise, Luther  tells  us,  that  a  voice  like  that  of  thunder 
echoed  through  the  chambers  of  his  heart  saying,  "The 
just  shall  live  by  faith."  It  was  this  voice  with  which  we 
have  become  familiar  in  following  the  life  of  the  student 
of  Magdeburg,  the  scholar  and  monk  of  Erfurt,  and  the 


72  The  Reformation. 

professor  and  preacher  of  Wittenberg.  It  was  the  "old, 
old"  message  that  had  brought  peace  to  untold  multitudes 
since  the  day  of  Pentecost.  A  message  lost  to  a  great 
extent  in  the  darkness  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  found 
again  in  the  devout  heart  out  of  which  was  to  burst  forth 
the  triumphal  strains  of  "Ein  Feste  Burg"  and  other 
great  hymns  of  the  Reformation.  With  the  message  of 
the  Gospel  ringing  in  his  ears,  the  thought  of  the  super- 
stitious degradation  of  his  action  came  upon  him  with  a 
force  that  broke  the  shackles  in  which  early  education, 
monkish  training,  and  the  traditions  of  the  Church  of 
Rome  had  bound  him.  His  spiritual  struggles  had  not 
yet  come  to  an  end  but  the  light  was  breaking  in  the 
dawning  of  a  new  day  in  which  he  was  to  hold  so  com- 
manding a  position  and  influence.  Luther  returned  to 
Wittenberg,  disillusionized,  disappointed  and  disgusted 
with  what  he  had  learned  from  personal  knowledge  of 
the  inner  life  and  corruption  of  the  papal  court. 

Staupitz  did  not  lose  sight  of  his  friend.  ''It  seemed," 
says  D'Aubigne,  "as  if  the  Vicar-general  had  a  pre- 
sentiment of  the  work  that  was  to  be  accomplished  in  the 
world,  and  that  finding  it  too  hard  for  him,  he  desired  to 
urge  Luther  to  undertake  it.  Nothing  is  more  remark- 
able, or  perhaps  more  inexplicable,  than  the  character  of 
the  man  who  was  ever  ready  to  impel  the  monk  onward 
in  the  path  to  which  God  called  him,  and  yet  himself 
went  and  ended  his  days  sadly  in  a  convent."  The  Elec- 
tor Frederick,  and  other  friends,  decided  that  Luther  had 
won  the  right  to  the  distinction  of  doctor  of  divinity. 
Staupitz  was  entrusted  with  the  pleasant  errand  of  con- 
sulting with  Luther  in  regard  to  this  promotion  that  car- 
ried with  it  higher  responsibilities  in  the  work  of  the  uni- 


LuTHKR  AS  A  Teacher  of  Theology.  73 

versity.  Luther  was  deeply  touched  by  the  proffer  of  this 
unexpected  honor.  His  first  thought,  however,  con- 
strained him  to  decHne  the  duties  that  he  recognized 
would  fall  upon  him.  His  fears  as  to  his  worthiness,  and 
his  health,  were  finally  overcome  by  the  pleas  of  Staupitz, 
and  the  assurance  that  friends  would  provide  the  money 
necessary  to  meet  the  expenses  connected  with  his  pro- 
motion. From  this  hour  Luther  became  a  marked  man 
and  recognized  leader.  Little  did  he  realize  the  tempes- 
tuous sea  upon  which  he  had  embarked.  But  it  was  a 
strong,  tried  hand  that  laid  hold  of  the  tiller,  that  with 
the  blessing  of  God,  was  to  guide  and  control  his  course. 
Luther  with  wonted  enthusiasm  took  up  the  duties  of  his 
doctorate.  His  onslaughts  on  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle 
and  his  sturdy  defense  of  the  Pauline  writings  and  the 
theology  of  Augustine,  attracted  wide  attention.  He  be- 
came, for  a  time,  the  friend  and  defender  of  Erasmus, 
and  kept  up  an  ever  extending  correspondence  with  the 
strong  group  of  men  in  the  universities  of  Europe  who 
felt  that  the  hour  had  arrived  for  the  reformation  of  cor- 
rupt practices  and  the  elimination  of  wicked  ecclesiastical 
leadership  within  the  Church  they  still  loved  and  longed 
to  see  purified. 

At  this  period  another  friend,  George  Spalatin,  came 
into  the  circle  of  comrades  gathering  about  Luther  to  fill 
a  place  of  special  influence  by  the  assistan<:e  he  rendered 
in  many  ways  to  the  great  Reformer.  From  this  time  on 
we  shall  discover  that  it  was  "team  work,"  represented  in 
the  cooperative  labors  and  sacrifice  of  men  differing  in 
gifts,  but  impelled  by  a  common  purpose,  that  made  the 
leadership  of  Luther  successful  and  opened  the  era  of 
Protestant  Church  history.     Spalatin  was  a  born  diplo- 


74  'Thk  Reformation. 

mat.  The  friend  of  noblemen,  scholars,  and  men  in  every 
rank  of  society,  his  position  as  secretary  and  chaplain  of 
the  Elector,  Frederic  the  Wise,  enabled  him  to  exercise 
an  influence  quiet  and  unobstrusive  in  character,  that 
was  at  times  of  vital  importance. 

In  addition  to  theological  discussions,  that  stirred 
up  deep  resentment  in  many  quarters,  Luther  gave  spe- 
cial attention  to  his  lectures  to  the  students  who  thronged 
his  lecture  room.  Melanchthon  tells  us,  that  '*He  so  ex- 
plained the  Scriptures,  that,  in  the  judgment  of  all  pious 
and  enlightened  men,  it  was  as  if  a  new  light  had  arisen 
on  the  doctrine  after  a  long  and  dark  night.  He  pointed 
out  the  difference  between  the  Law  and  the  Gospel.  He 
refuted  that  error,  then  predominant  in  the  Church  and 
schools,  that  men,  by  their  own  works,  obtain  remission 
of  sins,  and  are  made  righteous  before  God  by  an  external 
discipline.  He  thus  brought  back  the  hearts  of  men  to  the 
Son  of  God.  Like  John  the  Baptist,  he  pointed  to  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  had  taken  away  the  sins  of  the  world. 
He  explained  that  sin  is  freely  pardoned  on  account  of 
God's  Son,  and  that  man  receives  this  blessing  through 
faith.  He  in  no  way  interfered  with  the  usual  ceremonies. 
The  established  ceremonies  had  not,  in  all  his  order,  a 
more  faithful  observer  and  defender.  But  he  labored 
more  and  more  to  make  all  understand  the  grand  essential 
doctrines  of  Conversion ;  of  the  forgiveness  of  Sins ;  of 
Faith ;  and  of  the  true  consolations  of  the  Cross.  Pious 
souls  were  attracted  and  penetrated  by  the  sweetness  of 
this  doctrine;  the  learned  received  it  joyfully.  One  might 
have  said  that  Christ  and  His  Apostles  and  Prophets  had 
come  forth  from  darkness  or  from  some  impure  dun- 
geon."    (D'Aubigne.) 


Beginning  Work  o^  Re:?orme:r.  75 

It  was  in  these  days  that  Luther  found  himself,  in 
many  points,  out  of  sympathy  with  Erasmus,  whose  cour- 
age in  boldly  attacking  the  sins  of  the  Papal  Court  and 
the  corruptions  of  monasterial  life,  he  admired  as  well 
as  his  erudition  and  ability  as  a  scholar  and  student  of 
the  Bible.  As  a  younger  group  of  men  of  university 
training  gathered  about  him  Luther  sought  to  guide  them 
into  action  that  made  them  public  defenders  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith.  One  of  these  disciples,  Bernard  of  Feld- 
kirchen,  maintained  principles,  endorsed  by  Luther,  in  a 
disputation  that  attracted  much  attention.  Bernard  was 
a  professor  in  the  university  and  five  years  later  was  the 
first  among  the  German  priests  who  condemned  the  cele- 
bate  life  by  entering  into  the  married  state. 

The  Elector  having  erected  a  new  church  in  Witten- 
berg commissioned  Staupitz  to  collect  relics  to  be  placed 
within  its  walls.  The  Vicar-general  made  Luther  his 
representative  during  his  absence.  In  his  visitation  of  the 
large  number  of  monasteries  in  all  this  region  of  Ger- 
many he  saw  much  that  saddened  his  heart  and  demanded 
reform.  He  did  not  fail  to  raise  his  voice  in  condemna- 
tion of  these  evils.  Many  responded  to  his  eloquent  and 
earnest  appeals  and  it  was  from  these  very  monasteries 
that  some  of  the  most  ardent  advocates  of  Christian  faith 
came  forth  to  aid  Luther  and  his  fellow  reformers.  So 
great  was  the  interest  aroused  during  the  year  15 16,  in 
which  this  visitation  was  made,  that  it  has  been  called 
"the  Morning  Star  of  the  Reformation."  Luther  had 
now  come  to  a  position  of  commanding  influence.  His 
fame  as  a  pulpit  orator  brought  to  him  an  invitation  from 
Duke  George  of  Saxony  to  preach  in  the  chapel  of  the 
castle  at  Dresden.    He  chose  as  his  text  the  gospel  of  the 


yd  Thk  Re:formation. 

day  (Mat.  20:20).  It  was  one  of  his  great  discourses 
on  his  favorite  theme ;  the  assurance  of  salvation  through 
faith.  It  made  a  deep  impression.  Some  found  in  its 
message  the  way  of  ''peace,"  others  received  its  Augus- 
tinian  doctrines  with  unconcealed  dissatisfaction.  The 
battle  was  on  in  which  Martin  Luther  was  to  give  leader- 
ship that  has  placed  his  name  among  the  few  men  of  the 
ages  whose  name  and  fame  can  never  be  lost  in  the  an- 
nals of  time. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

PromuIvGation  01^*  THE  Thkses  Against  Indulgences. 

We  now  stand  upon  the  threshold  of  the  year  (1517) 
that  has  come  to  be  recognized  as  the  opening  date  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation.  It  was  the  year  in  which  Luther 
confronted  the  Roman  CathoHc  Church  and  its  en- 
trenched civil  and  ecclesiastical  power. 

This  conflict  came  to  its  first  battle  issue  out  of  action 
authorized  and  encouraged  by  the  Papal  Court,  at  whose 
head  stood  Leo  X.  Needing  money  to  help  a  nephew  in 
his  ambitious  schemes  the  Pope  offered  for  sale  indul- 
gences that  granted  pardons  for  every  conceivable  sin 
and  crime.  He  gave  as  the  ostensible  reason  for  this 
traffic  the  desire  to  secure  funds  to  complete  the  building 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Rome.  The  traffic  in  these  in- 
dulgences was  placed  in  the  hands  of  John  Tetzel,  a 
Dominican  monk  whose  life  of  wretched  and  criminal 
profligacy  would  have  come  to  an  early  close  had  the 
command  of  the  Emperor  Maximillian  been  carried  out 
in  an  order  that  was  issued  that  he  should  be  sewed  up 
in  a  sack  and  thrown  into  the  river.  As  early  as  1502, 
Tetzel  acted  as  an  agent  for  the  sale  of  indulgences.  For 
this  service  he  received  a  large  salary  and  an  allowance 
that  enabled  him  to  move  about  the  country  in  almost 
regal  state.  With  his  carriage  drawn  by  three  horses, 
with  their  outriders,  his  entrance  into  the  towns  of  Ger- 
many was  attended  with  great  outward  pomp  and  hypo- 
critical religious  ceremony.  A  Jesuit  historian  tells  us 
that  Tetzel  and  his  companions  "did  not  fail  to  distort 

17 


78  The:  Reformation. 

their  subject,  and  so  to  exaggerate  the  vahie  of  the  in- 
dulgences as  to  lead  the  people  to  believe  that  as  soon  as 
they  gave  their  money,  they  were  certain  of  salvation  and 
of  the  deliverance  of  souls  from  purgatory." 

''The  first  benefit  we  announce,"  said  these  agents  ap- 
pointed by  command  of  the  Pope,  ''is  the  complete  pardon 
of  all  sins ;  and  it  is  not  possible  to  speak  of  any  greater 
benefit  than  this,  since  man  who  lives  in  sin  is  deprived 
of  the  divine  favor,  and  by  this  complete  pardon  he  re- 
covers the  grace  of  God.  Now  we  affirm,  that  to  obtain 
these  great  blessings,  it  is  only  necessary  to  purchase  an 
indulgence.  And  as  to  those  who  desire  to  deliver  souls 
from  purgatory,  and  to  procure  for  them  forgiveness  of 
all  their  sins,  let  them  put  money  in  the  chest;  but  it  is 
not  needful  that  they  should  feel  sorrow  of  heart,  or  make 
confession  with  their  lips.  Let  them  only  hasten  to  bring 
their  money,  for  they  will  thus  do  a  work  most  profitable 
to  departed  souls  and  to  the  building  of  the  church  of 
St.  Peter." 

The  sacrilegious  traffic  of  Tetzel  was  carried  on  in  the 
most  ostentatious  manner.  The  counter  was  placed  by  the 
side  of  an  uplifted  cross  and  men  and  women  poured  their 
money  into  the  boxes.  The  amount  demanded  was  gradu- 
ated by  capacity  to  pay.  Tetzel  refused  to  sell  an  indul- 
gence to  a  wealthy  woman  in  Magdeburg  for  less  than 
one  hundred  florins.  Her  confessor,  a  Franciscan  priest, 
when  informed  of  this  extortionate  demand,  said:  "God 
gives  us  remission  of  sins  freely.  He  does  not  sell  it." 
These  words  were  reported  to  Tetzel,  who  angrily  ex- 
claimed: "Such  an  adviser  deserves  to  be  expelled  or 
burnt  alive." 


T^TZKL,   THK   VENDER  01^   InDULCI^NCES.  79 

In  his  history  of  the  Reformation,  D'Aubigne  tells 
the  story  of  a  Saxon  gentleman  who  heard  Tetzel  utter 
his  blasphemous  harangue  at  Leipsic.  ''He  went  to  the 
monk,  and  inquired  if  he  was  authorized  to  pardon  sins 
in  intention,  or  such  as  the  applicant  intended  to  com- 
mit. 'Assuredly,*  answered  Tetzel.  'I  have  full  power 
from  the  Pope  to  do  so.'  'Well,'  returned  the  gentleman, 
'I  want  to  take  some  slight  revenge  on  one  of  my  enemies, 
without  attempting  his  life.  I  will  pay  you  ten  crowns 
if  you  will  give  me  a  letter  of  indulgence  that  shall  bear 
me  harmless.'  Tetzel  made  some  scruples ;  they  struck 
their  bargain  for  thirty  crowns.  Shortly  after  the  monk 
set  out  from  Leipsic.  The  gentleman  attended  by  his 
servants,  laid  wait  for  him  in  a  wood  between  Juterboch 
and  Treblin, — fell  upon  him,  gave  him  a  beating,  and 
carried  off  the  rich  chest  of  indulgence  money  the  inquisi- 
tor had  with  him.  Tetzel  clamored  against  this  act  of 
violence,  and  brought  an  action  before  the  judges.  But 
the  gentleman  showed  the  letter  signed  by  Tetzel  himself 
which  exempted  him  beforehand  from  all  responsibility. 
Duke  George,  who,  had  at  first  been  much  irritated  at 
this  action,  upon  seeing  this  writing,  ordered  that  the  ac- 
cused should  be  acquitted." 

As  the  sale  of  indulgences  went  merrily  on  with  an 
increasing  wave  of  crime  following  in  the  wake  of  this 
horrible  traffic,  general  indignation  was  aroused  on  the 
part  of  decent  Christian  men  and  women.  Leading 
bishops  and  worthy  priests  and  monks  made  their  quiet 
but  earnest  protest  in  private  circles.  Not  one  of  them 
dared  to  condemn  these  evil  practices  in  a  public  way. 
They  knew  too  well  the  power  of  Rome  and  the  relentless 
punishment  that  followed  disobedience  or  even  criticism 


8o  The  Reformation. 

of  its  mandates.  The  man  whom  God  had  appointed  for 
this  hour  was  ready  for  his  great  task.  From  the  da}' 
that  Luther  entered  the  convent  at  Erfurt,  out  of  soul 
struggles  that  brought  him,  through  the  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  the  light  of  a  once  more  opened  Bible 
into  an  experience  of  spiritual  peace  and  hope,  there  hac 
been  intensified  within  his  strong  nature  a  growing  dis- 
satisfaction and  condemnation  of  evils  that  were  makinc 
the  Church  and  its  institutions  a  source  of  corrupt  lift 
and  influence.  The  facts  of  the  case  were  undeniable 
Christianity  under  the  leadership  of  Rome  was  losing  it« 
hold  upon  all  classes  of  men.  Luther  lamented  the  situa- 
tion. He  loved  the  Church  as  the  Bride  of  Christ.  H( 
had  dedicated  himself  to  its  service  and  expected  to  liv< 
and  die  in  its  communion.  But  Rome,  and  all  the  bane- 
ful influences  that  flowed  from  the  Papal  city  with  it; 
mighty  power,  became  more  and  more  abhorrent  to  hin 
and  the  choice  group  of  Christian  teachers  and  leader; 
that  stood  near  him  in  Wittenberg.  Something  must  b( 
done  to  rescue  the  Church  from  the  corrupt  and  evi 
forces  that  threatened  its  life. 

The  miserable  travesty  of  the  practice  of  Indulgence: 
that  had  ''pervaded  the  whole  penitential  system  of  th( 
later  medieval  Church  and  that  had  done  so  from  th( 
Thirteenth  Century,"  was  to  be  the  point  where  the  matcl 
was  lighted  that  set  Europe  on  fire  and  ushered  in  th< 
Protestant  Reformation.  Luther  understood  full  wel 
the  theological  hair  splitting  distinctions  by  which  th( 
doctrine  of  indulgences  was  upheld,  but  he  saw  that  th( 
mass  of  the  people  did  believe  that  Tetzel  handed  t( 
them,  in  exchange  for  their  hard  earned  gold  and  silve 
coins,  a  paper  that  absolutely  removed  the  guilt  of  sin 


The:  Thksks  Against  Indui.ge:nce:s.  8i 

Luther  when  he  prepared  his  famous  Theses  paid  little 
attention  to  theological  definitions.  "They  are  simply 
ninety-five  sturdy  strokes  struck  at  a  great  ecclesiastical 
abuse  which  was  starving  the  consciences  of  many."^ 

As  Luther  strode  down  the  long  river  side  street  of 
Wittenberg,  that  fateful  October  afternoon,  four  hundred 
years  ago,  with  hammer  and  manuscript  in  hand,  he  was 
followed  by  the  gaze  of  a  multitude  who  admired  him  as 
the  most  eloquent  preacher  of  his  time,  the  great  scholar, 
the  fearless  advocate  of  reform  in  high  places  and  low 
places.  They  could  not  know ;  even  Luther  himself  could 
not  know,  the  far  reaching  influence  of  his  act  that  day. 
But  to  himself,  and  to  other  thoughtful  men  and  women 
in  Wittenberg,  there  must  have  come  a  feeling  that  the 
hour  was  one  of  epoch  making  significance.  In  humble 
peasant  homes,  in  cloister  cells,  in  palace  halls,  prayers 
were  oflfered  that  night  that  God  was  to  answer  in  the 
unfolding  of  a  fresh  chapter  in  the  history  of  Christianity 
and  the  world. 

^Lindsay.    History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  I,  p.  228. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The:  Ope:ning  of  the:  Conduct  with  Rome:.     Crisis 
Ykars  in  the:  LiFK  OF  LuTHKR.     1517 — 1520. 

''That  Luther  has  a  fine  genius,"  laughingly  remarked 
Leo  Tenth,  when  he  learned  of  the  action  of  the  young 
Wittenberg  professor  in  posting  his  Theses  against  in- 
dulgences on  the  Palace  Church  of  Wittenberg. 

Little  did  Leo  realize  that  the  vast  superstructure  of 
prelatical  power,  that  had  slowly  risen  out  of  the  life  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  was  to  be  shaken  to  its  very  foundations 
by  dynamic  forces  that  were  exploded  by  the  hammer 
blows  of  the  despised  German  monk.  Little  did  Luther 
realize  the  tasks  that  lay  before  him  and  the  wonderful 
way  in  which  the  divine  promise  was  to  be  fulfilled  in 
the  bestowal  of  help  for  each  day  and  every  crisis  hour. 
Only  a  man  of  rare  gifts  of  head  and  heart,  sustained  by 
unusual  physical  strength,  could  have  endured  the  fret 
and  strain  of  the  burdens  of  care  and  leadership  that 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  great  reformer.  Royal  gifts  of  mind 
and  physique  were  his  heritage  in  a  remarkable  degree, 
but  it  is  in  the  lonely  spiritual  struggles  of  the  monastery 
cell,  the  assiduous  study  of  the  Bible,  and  an  intellect  and 
conscience,  clear  visioned  and  courageous,  that  we  dis- 
cover the  secret  of  Luther's  power  and  leadership,  when 
the  hour  of  destiny  called  him  to  his  appointed  work.  To 
what  extent  in  the  autumn  of  15 17  he  realized  conditions 
that  swiftly  unfolded  after  his  indictment  of  the  sale  of 
indulgences,  we  cannot  know.  This  we  know,  that  he  was 
keenly  alive  to  all  the  signs  of  the  times.    The  universities 

82 


The  Dawn  of  a  New  Era.  83 

that  had  been  founded  in  England  and  on  the  continent 
were  crowded  with  restless  throngs  of  students  who  were 
the  constant  bearers  of  tidings  regarding  the  work  and 
prevailing  tempter  of  these  centres  of  intellecual  life.  That 
temper  was  one  of  reform  and  reaction  from  the  methods 
and  philosophy  of  the  schoolmen.  The  torch  of  truth, 
lighted  by  Wiclif  and  Huss,  had  been  passed  on  by  faith- 
ful hands  and  was  ready  for  use  in  starting  a  conflagra- 
tion that  was  to  illumine  the  skies  of  all  Europe  and 
destroy  much  of  the  ''stubble"  and  debris  of  corrupt 
ecclesiastical  institutions  that  Avere  Anti-Christ  in  spirit 
and  structure.  The  activities  of  the  young  Oxford  teach- 
ers— Colet,  Erasmus  and  More — must  have  been  the 
source  of  keen  interest  in  the  discussions  of  the  cloisters 
of  Wittenberg.  Luther  at  this  time  was  in  correspond- 
ence with  Erasmus  and  hailed  the  publication  of  his 
translation  of  the  Greek  New  Testament  with  delight. 
With  increasing  indignation  against  evils  that  had  cul- 
minated in  Tetzel's  horrible  traffic,  he  watched  the  begin- 
nings of  a  struggle  that  sought  to  throw  off  the  shackles 
of  an  outworn  but  still  grievous  heritage  of  feudalistic 
bondage ;  secure  national  independency ;  and  win  free- 
dom from  the  secular  and  spiritual  sway  of  Rome. 

It  was  not  as  a  lonely  reformer  that  Luther  nailed  his 
theses  against  indulgences,  upon  the  door  of  the  Castle 
Church.  He  understood  full  well  that  this  courageous 
act  would  meet  with  a  silent  but  heartfelt  response  in 
multitudes  of  lowly  German  homes.  He  was  assured 
that  his  associates  in  the  university  and  most  of  the  lead- 
ing officials  of  Saxony,  headed  by  their  beloved  Elector, 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  reforms  which  he  advocated. 
In  a  general  way  he  realized  that  there  was  a  stirring  of 


84  The  Reformation. 

popular  feeling  that,  if  fused  into  united  action,  would 
carry  dismay  into  the  counsels  of  the  impious  ecclesias- 
tical leaders  at  Rome,  whose  sole  ambition  was  to  gratify 
their  selfish  and  sensual  tastes  and  jealously  guard  their 
entrenched  hierarchical  power.  With  that  lofty  spiritual 
courage  that  animated  Cromwell  as  he  led  the  Puritan 
army  on  the  fateful  field  of  Nasby,  Luther  was  the  great 
commanding  personality  that  led  the  reforming  hosts  of 
Germany  and  other  lands  with  the  Psalmist's  battle  cry, 
*Xet  God  arise  and  let  His  enemies  be  scattered." 

October  thirty-first,  15 17,  was  indeed  an  epoch  making 
day.  "Luther's  denunciation  of  Indulgences,"  Froude 
has  eloquently  said,  "became,  like  the  brazen  serpent  in 
the  wilderness,  the  sign  to  which  the  sick  spirits  through- 
out the  western  world  looked  hopefully  and  were  healed. 
In  all  those  millions  of  hearts  the  words  of  Luther  found 
an  echo,  and  flew  from  lip  to  lip,  from  ear  to  ear.  The 
thing  which  all  were  longing  for  was  done,  and  in  two 
years  from  that  day  there  was  scarcely  perhaps  a  village 
from  the  Irish  Channel  to  the  Danube  in  which  the  name 
of  Luther  was  not  familiar  as  a  word  of  hope  and 
promise.  Then  rose  a  common  cry  for  guidance.  Books 
were  called  for — above  all  things,  the  greatest  book  of 
all,  the  Bible.  Luther's  inexhaustible  fecundity  flowed 
with  a  steady  stream,  and  the  printing  presses  in  Ger- 
many and  in  the  Free  Towns  of  the  Netherlands,  multi- 
plied Testaments  and  tracts  in  hundreds  of  thousands. 
Printers  published  at  their  own  expense  as  Luther  wrote. 
The  continent  was  covered  with  disfrocked  monks  who 
had  become  the  pedlars  of  these  precious  wares ;  and  as 
the  contagion  spread,  noble  young  spirits  from  other 
countries,  eager  themselves  to  fight  in  God's  battle,  came 


Thi:  Centuries  oe  Preparation.  85 

to  Wittenberg  to  learn  from  the  champion  who  had  struck 
the  first  blow  at  their  great  enemy  how  to  use  their 
weapons."  "Students,"  says  Michelet,  "from  all  nations 
came  to  Wittenberg,  to  hear  Luther  and  Melanchthon. 
As  they  came  in  sight  of  the  town  they  returned  thanks 
to  God  with  clasped  hands;  for  from  Wittenberg,  as 
heretofore  from  Jerusalem,  proceeded  the  light  of  evan- 
gelical truth,  to  spread  thence  to  the  uttermost  parts  of 
the  earth."  This  picture  drawn  by  the  master  hand  of 
one  of  our  great  modern  historians  vividly  delineates 
conditions  that  prevailed  during  the  three  years  that  pre- 
ceded the  burning  of  the  Pope's  Bull  by  Luther  in  the 
presence  of  an  immense  concourse  that  gathered  on  the 
banks  of  the  Elbe.     (December  10,  1520.) 

At  this  point  a  backward  look  over  ten  centuries  will 
help  us  better  to  understand  the  impending  conflict  that 
gave  birth  to  Evangelical  Christianity  as  represented 
to-day  by  world  wide  Protestantism.  The  barbarian  in- 
vasion of  the  Fifth  Century  while  it  broke  the  Roman  em- 
pire into  fragments  did  not  destroy  the  Church.  Its 
teachings  were  carried  by  faithful  and  devout  minis- 
ters, clothed  with  priestly  authority,  into  every  land  that 
had  been  conquered  by  Rome  and  knit  together  by  its 
magnificent  system  of  roads.  These  heralds  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith  did  not  falter  in  the  face  of  dangers,  even  unto 
death,  to  convey  the  story  of  Redemptive  love  into  the 
forest  huts  of  Germany  and  the  rude  hovel  homes  of 
Britain.  Then,  as  ever,  it  wrought  salvation.  A  new 
civilization  emerged  out  of  the  life  of  Teutonic  races  that 
had  heretofore  developed  only  pagan,  brute  strength. 
Before  the  uplifted  Cross  these  men  reverently  bowed 
and  became  obedient  to  its  sway.    The  Church,  under  the 


86  The  Reformation. 

guidance  of  ambitious  ecclesiastical  leaders,  was  in  the 
untutored  thought  of  the  rude  races  of  the  North  and  the 
more  cultured  races  of  the  South,  the  embodiment  of 
imperial  power  that  lifted  it  above  the  authority  of 
princes  and  emperors.  The  coronation  of  Charlemagne 
in  800  witnessed  the  complete  triumph  of  this  imperialis- 
tic conception  of  the  Church  that  had  been  diligently 
fostered  by  the  papacy  from  the  time  Rome  was  sep- 
arated from  the  Eastern  Church,  and  the  ancient  capital 
of  the  Ceesars  became  the  seat  of  the  papal  power.  When 
Otto  was  crowned  in  962,  the  Holy  Roman  Empire  came 
into  an  existence  that  did  not  cease  until  the  opening  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  From  the  coronation  of  Otto  I, 
for  three  centuries  history  centres  about  the  relation  of  the 
Empire  to  the  Papacy.  During  the  first  hundred  of  these 
years  the  pope  and  emperor  were  acclaimed  sovereigns 
with  coordinate  powers.  Then  followed  a  period  of 
humiliation  for  the  popes  that  was  again  reversed  by  in- 
fluences that  gave  them  leadership  in  the  days  of  the 
Crusades. 

The  Middle  Ages  are  often  called  the  Dark  Ages.  This 
is  a  misnomer.  It  is  true  that  in  these  centuries,  as  in  all 
centuries,  the  darkness  of  sin  and  ignorance  cast  heavy 
shadows  over  the  life  of  humanity.  Science  and  inven- 
tion, as  we  now  know  them,  were  a  sealed  book,  but  brain 
power  and  heart  power  found  wonderful  expression  in 
these  centuries  when  Christianity  was  the  main  leavening 
life,  in  church  and  state,  and  a  slowly  emerging  social 
order.  We  shall  fail  to  gain  a  correct  impression  of  the 
work  wrought  in  these  centuries  if  we  dwell  only  on  the 
evils  and  corruptions  that  threatened  the  very  founda- 
tions of  Christian  faith  and  society,  and  that  culminated 


The:  Dawn  of  Modern  Civilization.  ^y 

in  the  Protestant  Revolution  of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 
The  very  fact  of  this  Revolution  gives  abundant  testimony 
that  the  Church  of  the  Living  God :  the  Church  of  which 
Christ  is  the  Head;  rested  upon  a  sure  foundation  that 
could  not  be  destroyed  by  the  selfish  ambitions  and  cor- 
rupt practices  of  papal  courts,  and  palace  halls. 

Historians  have  dated  the  era  of  the  Protestant  Revo- 
lution from  the  latter  half  of  the  Fifteenth  Century.  Mo- 
hammedan power,  that  once  threatened  to  overcome 
Southern  Europe,  had  been  broken  and  the  Moors  ex- 
pelled from  Spain.  The  Crusades,  though  they  had  failed 
in  their  purpose  to  dislodge  the  "Infidel"  out  of  Jerusalem, 
"had  awakened  Europe  to  new  life.  East  and  West  were 
brought  nearer  together.  Knights  and  soldiers  and  pil- 
grims brought  home  from  new  lands  new  thoughts  and 
wider  notions."  It  was  a  spring  time  day  in  the  history 
of  Christianity  and  of  the  world.  The  discovery  of  the 
mariner's  compass  had  given  a  new  impetus  to  commerce. 
Adventurous  sailors  set  sail  for  lands  beyond  the  horizon 
that  had  long  bounded  their  journeyings.  Columbus  was 
soon  to  realize  his  dreams  in  the  discovery  of  a  new 
world.  The  fall  of  Constantinople  scattered  the  bands 
of  Greek  scholars  who  carried  the  New  Learning  to  Italy 
and  dropped  the  seed  that  sprang  up  with  amazing  rapid- 
ity in  the  "good  ground"  of  more  than  thirty  universities 
that  had  been  founded  in  every  part  of  Christendom.  In 
these  years  we  note  "a  succession  of  poets,  painters, 
sculptors  and  historians  such  as  had  not  been  known  for 
centuries."  The  opening  chapters  of  a  modern  civiliza- 
tion were  finding  record.  The  old  order  was  passing. 
The  last  to  realize  the  change  that  was  taking  place  was 
the  Roman  Church.    The  Church  that  thus  far  had  been 


88  The  Re:formation. 

the  main  representative  of  Christianity.  Her  ecclesiastical 
system  had  found  its  inspiration  in  the  imperial  structure 
reared  by  the  Csesars.  Europe  was  divided  into  prov- 
inces at  the  head  of  which  was  an  archbishop.  They  were 
obedient  to  the  Pope  and  his  cardinals  in  Rome.  The 
archbishops  were  at  the  head  of  the  bishops  who  con- 
trolled and  ordained  the  parochical  clergy.  The  monks, 
represented  by  the  Dominican  and  Augustinian  orders, 
had  by  the  favor  of  the  Popes  become  more  powerful 
and  influential  than  the  parish  clergy.  The  men  who 
controlled  this  ecclesiastical  system  "held  in  their  hands 
the  keys,  as  it  were,  not  only  of  heaven  but  of  earth,  they 
alone  baptized:  they  alone  married  people  (though  un- 
married themselves)  :  they  alone  could  grant  divorce. 
They  had  charge  of  men  on  their  death-beds :  they  alone 
buried,  and  could  refuse  Christian  burial  in  the  church 
yards.  They  alone  had  the  disposition  of  the  goods  of 
deceased  persons.  When  a  man  made  a  will  it  had  to  be 
proved  in  their  ecclesiastical  courts.  If  men  disputed 
their  claims,  doubted  their  teaching,  or  rebelled  from 
their  doctrines,  they  virtually  condemned  them  to  the 
stake,  by  handing  them  over  to  the  civil  power,  which 
acted  in  submission  to  their  dictates."     (Seebohm.) 

In  time  the  bequests  of  the  dead  brought  immense  reve- 
nues under  the  control  of  the  clergy  that  were  increased  by 
the  right  they  possessed  to  a  tenth  of  all  the  produce  of 
the  land  cultivated  by  a  peasantry  that  groaned  under  the 
oppression  of  the  feudal  system  that  made  their  lot  one 
of  virtual  slavery.  The  occupants  of  the  monasteries 
that  had  been  founded  in  almost  every  community,  under 
the  direct  protection  of  the  pope  were  exempted  by  ec- 
clesiastical law,  from  civil  responsibility.    As  their  wealth 


Internal  Corruption  of  the  Roman  Church.    89 

and  revenues  increased,  multitudes  of  the  monks  became 
notorious  for  indolence  and  gross  immorality.  We  must 
remember  also  that  it  was  from  the  ranks  of  the  clergy 
that  men  were  called  to  act  as  ambassadors,  prime  minis- 
ters, envoys,  diplomats  and  lawyers.  Religion  and  its 
interests  were  subordinated  to  political  machinations  and 
selfish  ambitions.  At  the  head  of  this  imperial,  hier- 
archical system,  stood  the  Pope.  In  the  progress  of  the 
centuries  the  papal  power  had  come  to  its  culmination. 
This  power,  that  arrogated  supremacy  both  in  the  realm 
of  spiritual  and  civil  life,  had  been  so  misused  and  abused 
that  in  these  opening  days  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  "it 
was  notorious  to  every  one  living  in  Rome  that  the  char- 
acter of  her  Popes  and  the  acts  of  the  papal  court  were 
so  evil,  that  she  had  become  both  politically  and  spiritu- 
ally the  centre  of  wickedness  and  rottenness  in  Europe 
and  especially  in  Italy." 

This  desecration  of  a  power  that  had  won  such  com- 
plete obedience  and  acceptance,  was  the  source  of  the 
revolt  that  changed  the  currents  of  history  and  gave  a 
mighty  impulse  to  the  spirit  of  democracy  that  in  its 
struggles  against  imperialistic  power  laid  the  foundations 
of  that  Evangelical  Christianity  that  has  given  birth  to 
republican  ideals,  institutions  and  governments. 

In  tracing  the  sources  of  the  Protestant  Reformation 
we  must  not  forget  that  it  was  the  internal  corruption  of 
the  Roman  Church,  disclosed  in  the  life  of  wicked  popes 
and  ambitious  cardinals,  flaunting  their  selfish  and  lustful 
pride  of  authority  in  the  eyes  of  all  Europe;  dissolute 
monks  and  idle  priests  greedily  fleecing  the  flocks  which 
they  controlled  with  abject  fear  and  obedience:  that 
created  the  feeling  that  broke  out  in  the  Revolution  of 


90  Thk  Reformation. 

which  Luther  stands  in  history  as  the  foremost  leader. 
From  the  days  of  Huss  imtil  the  dramatic  hour  when 
Luther,  at  the  Diet  at  Worms,  took  his  stand  against 
Rome,  the  men — and  they  were  a  host — who  mourned 
over  conditions  growing  out  of  the  action  and  sins  of 
unworthy  representatives  of  the  Church  they  loved  as  the 
Body  of  Christ,  desired  and  strove  to  bring  about  the 
reformation  of  these  evils  by  changes  wrought  within  its 
corporate  life.  For  generations  humble,  devout  Christian 
men  and  women,  some  of  them  dwellers  in  monasteries 
and  nunneries,  scholars  and  teachers  in  the  universities, 
and  the  more  thoughtful  members  of  the  laity,  in  an  age 
in  which  feudalism  imposed  its  imperious  bondage,  alike 
complained  of  the  evils  that  had  their  fountain  head  in 
Rome.  Dante  had  described  the  Popes  of  his  generation 
as  men 

"whose  avarice 
O'ercasts  the  world  with  mourning,  under  foot 
Treading  the  good,  and  raising  bad  men  up. 
Of  Shepherds  like  to  you,  the  Evangelist 
Was  aware,  when  her  who  sits  upon  the  waves 
With  kings  in  filthy  whoredom  he  beheld !" 
The  indictment  of  Petrarch  is  no  less  severe. 
"Once  Rome :    now  false  and  guilty  Babylon ! 
Hive  of  deceits !     Terrible  prison, 
Where  the  good  doth  die,  the  bad  is  fed  and  fattened ! 
Hell  of  the  living! 
Sad  world  that  dost  endure  it :   Cast  her  out !" 

The  Roman  Church,  as  a  human  institution,  was  com- 
ing to  a  day  of  judgment  that  has  not  yet  passed.  The 
power  that  revealed  its  weakness  and  ushered  in  an  era 


The:  Victories  of  EvangeIvICai,  Faith.  91 

that  witnessed  the  victories  of  evangelical  faith  was  the 
Truth  of  the  revealed  Word  of  God.  This  word,  in  its 
entirety,  had  been  a  sealed  book  for  centuries  but  even  a 
degenerate  hierarchical  church  of  imperialistic  power 
while  it  might  scatter  the  dust  of  Huss  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Danube;  exterminate  his  followers  in  Bohemia, 
and  the  Albigenses  of  Southern  France,  and  light  the 
cruel  flames  of  the  Inquisition,  could  not  destroy  the 
essential  truth  that  was  the  life  of  Christianity.  In  the 
lessons  of  the  Breviary,  the  hymns  of  Ambrose  and  Ber- 
nard, in  the  organ  peals  that  lifted  human  voices  echoing 
through  the  aisles  and  under  the  domes  of  the  marvelous 
cathedrals  that  Christian  art  had  filled  with  paintings  that 
are  still  the  world's  treasures  ;  men  of  intellectual  power  ; 
devout  women  whose  immaculate  purity  still  shone  in  the 
life  of  palace  halls,  and  rude  hovels;  teachers  and 
ecclesiastics  of  devout  and  holy  character:  found  the 
Christ  and  were  His  followers.  Their  prayers,  their 
desires,  were  answered,  not  as  they  hoped  in  a  purified 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  in  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion of  the  Sixteenth  Century. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
Luthkr's  Bri:ak  with  Rome.    151 7 — 1520. 

All  Saints'  day  in  15 17  found  the  great  parish  church 
of  Wittenberg  crowded  with  an  audience,  many  of  whom 
had  already  read  the  propositions  regarding  indulgences 
that  Luther  had  posted  on  its  door  the  previous  after- 
noon. These  statements  he  again  repeated  at  this  festival 
service.  The  whole  matter  might  have  aroused  only  local 
and  neighborhood  interest  had  not  Tetzel  and  the  Pope 
been  aware  that  the  young  Wittenberg  monk  and  pro- 
fessor was  backed  by  strong  influential  parties.  The 
Elector  of  Saxony  stood  in  such  relations  to  the  Holy 
Roman  Empire  that  he  held  a  key  position.  A  man  of 
high  ideals  and  Christian  character  he  was  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  the  attack  made  by  Luther  upon  Tetzel  and 
his  nefarious  traffic.  It  is  said  that  the  Elector,  a  few 
days  after  Luther  posted  his  theses,  had  a  dream  in  which 
he  saw  the  writing  on  the  door  of  the  church  which  he 
had  built,  in  letters  so  large  that  he  could  read  them  in 
his  palace,  eighteen  miles  distant.  Wonderful  to  tell  he 
also,  in  his  dream,  saw  the  pen  that  Luther  used  grow 
longer  and  longer  until  at  last  it  reached  Rome  and  al- 
most upset  the  Pope's  triple  crown.  Stretching  out  his 
hand  to  save  it  from  falling  he  awoke ! 

The  refusal  of  the  Elector  to  allow  Tetzel  to  enter  his 
dominion,  conveyed  the  story  of  Luther's  courageous  act 
to  Rome  under  circumstances  that  stirred  the  Papal 
Court  and  made  the  incident  the  theme  of  conversation 
and  discussion  in  the  palaces,  the  universities  and  the 
homes  of  wealthy  burghers  and  humble  peasants. 

92 


Th^  Thi:se;s  Against  lNDui.GE:Ncr:s.  93 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  famous  theses  were  not  in 
the  form  of  an  attack  but  rather  a  criticism  of  the  abuse 
of  indulgences. 

The  assertions  of  the  Theses  were  as  follows : 

i.  An  Indulgence  is  and  can  only  be  the  remission  of  a 
merely  ecclesiastical  penalty;  the  Church  can  remit  what 
the  Church  has  imposed;  it  cannot  remit  what  God  has 
imposed. 

ii.  An  Indulgence  can  never  remit  guilt ;  the  pope  him- 
self cannot  do  such  a  thing ;  God  has  kept  that  in  his  own 
hands. 

iii.  It  cannot  remit  the  divine  punishment  for  sin ;  that 
also  is  in  the  hands  of  God  alone. 

iv.  It  can  have  no  efficacy  for  souls  in  Purgatory;  pen- 
alties imposed  by  the  Church  can  only  refer  to  the  living ; 
death  dissolves  them ;  what  the  Pope  can  do  for  souls  in 
Purgatory  is  by  prayer,  not  by  jurisdiction  or  the  power 
of  the  keys. 

v.  The  Christian  who  has  true  repentance  has  already 
received  pardon  from  God  altogether  apart  from  an  In- 
dulgence, and  does  not  need  one ;  Christ  demands  this 
true  repentance  from  every  one. 

vi.  The  Treasury  of  Merits  has  never  been  properly 
defined ;  it  is  hard  to  say  what  it  is,  and  it  is  not  properly 
understood  by  the  people;  it  cannot  be  the  merits  of 
Christ  and  of  His  saints,  because  these  act  of  themselves 
and  quite  apart  from  the  intervention  of  the  pope ;  it  can 
mean  nothing  more  than  that  the  pope,  having  the  power 
of  the  keys  can  remit  ecclesiastical  penalties  imposed  by 
the  Church ;  the  true  treasure-house  of  merits  is  the  Holy 
Ghost  of  the  grace  and  glory  of  God. 


94  The  Reformation: 

Luther  had  no  thought  at  this  time  of  withdrawing 
from  the  Church  of  his  fathers.  His  soul  was  firm  in  the 
purpose  and  desire  to  do  all  that  was  in  his  power  to 
cleanse  it  from  the  evils  that  threatened  its  life.  He 
hoped  to  aid  in  bringing  the  Church  back  to  the  spirit  and 
teachings  of  Augustine  and  the  early  Fathers.  He  had 
no  conception,  when  he  lighted  the  torch  of  Truth  and 
disclosed  the  iniquities  of  the  traffic  endorsed  by  Rome, 
that  its  sparks  would  kindle  the  conflagration  that  soon 
spread  all  over  Europe  and  Britain.  From  that  epochal 
incident  on  the  afternoon  of  October  31,  1517,  events 
moved  fast.  Luther  was  soon  to  realize  his  providential 
mission  and  leadership. 

In  November  (1517)  the  Elector  Albrecht  of  Mayence 
sent  a  message  to  Rome  denouncing  the  monk  of  Witten- 
berg as  a  promulgator  of  false  doctrines  and  a  seducer  of 
the  common  people.  As  bishop  of  Albrecht  he  hastened 
to  bring  suit  against  the  pernicious  heretic  ''through 
Master  John  Tetzel."  The  suit  was  not  pressed  but  the 
statements  upon  which  it  was  based  especially  aroused 
the  vigorous  support  of  the  Dominican  order,  of  which 
Tetzel  was  a  member.  Cardinal  Cajetan,  the  General  of 
the  order,  took  up  the  cudgels  in  behalf  of  the  opinions 
so  acutely  criticized  by  Luther.  Pope  Leo  X  was  wary 
and  diplomatic.  Through  the  head  of  the  Augustinian 
order,  with  which  Luther  was  connected,  he  sought  to 
reach  the  Wittenberg  heretic,  in  a  conciliatory  way.  This 
effort  only  resulted  in  strengthening  the  convictions  of 
Luther  and  giving  wider  dissemination  to  the  views  that 
had  aroused  the  wrath  of  Tetzel  and  his  fellow  Domini- 
cans. In  this  controversy  Luther  was  sustained  by 
Staupitz  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony. 


Philip  Melanchthon.  95 

This  was  a  heart-searching  and  testing  period  in  the 
life  of  Luther,  (1518 — 1519).  In  great  loneHness  of 
spirit,  he  was  called  also  to  walk  in  a  path  where  old  time 
friends  passed  him  by.  It  was  a  season  of  reaction  in  the 
tide  of  popular  feeling  in  the  university  and  city  that  had 
buoyed  him  up  and  encouraged  his  action  in  attacking 
Tetzel.  Again  he  fought  over  the  old  battle  grounds  of 
faith  and  doctrine,  and  came  forth  firm  in  convictions 
from  which  he  never  again  swerved.  In  these  days  a 
comrade  of  noble  and  gentle  spirit  stood  at  his  side.  The 
wise  Elector  never  listened  to  more  providential  advice 
than  that  which  brought  Melanchthon  to  Wittenberg,  as 
professor  of  Greek  (1518).  A  graduate  of  Heidelberg 
and  Tubingen  he  was  eminently  fitted  to  become  a  leader 
of  the  "New  Learning."  His  fame  as  a  teacher  crowded 
the  university  with  an  enthusiastic  band  of  students  who 
caught  from  him,  not  only  the  spirit  of  the  Renaissance, 
but  a  love  of  the  New  Testament  whose  Christian  prin- 
ciples were  exemplified  in  his  daily  walk  and  conversa- 
tion. The  personality  and  courageous  attitude  of  Luther 
had  been  one  of  the  influences  that  decided  Melanchthon 
to  accept  the  invitation  to  Wittenberg.  The  friendship 
that  existed  between  these  two  great  men  is  one  of  the 
delightful  idyls  of  the  Reformation  period.  They  were 
providentially  fitted  to  supplement  each  others  work  in 
the  heavy  task  that  was  laid  upon  them.  In  temperament 
Melanchthon  was  in  every  way  the  opposite  of  Luther 
but  his  gentle  and  sensitive  nature,  balanced  by  a  well 
trained  and  scholarly  judgment,  furnished  just  the  sup- 
port that  Luther  needed.  The  hand  and  brain  that 
drafted  the  Augsburg  Confession  was  that  of  no  ordinary 
man. 


96  The:  R^i^ormation. 

In  this  time  of  heated  controversy  Luther  accepted  the 
challenge  of  Eck  to  dispute  with  Carlstadt  and  himself, 
at  Leipzig,  on  t^e  papal  supremacy.  This  disputation, 
held  in  June,  15 19,  was  a  turning  point  in  Luther's  career. 
Carlstadt  had  been  connected  with  the  university  at  Wit- 
tenberg since  1505  and,  first  as  a  teacher  of  philosophy 
and  then  of  theology,  had  won  a  position  of  large  in- 
fluence. He  was  a  pioneer  in  the  Reformation  movement 
and  in  some  respects  he  stood,  in  these  early  years,  in 
advance  of  Luther.  But  the  free  thinking  spirit  and  lack 
of  good  judgment,  that  marked  his  entire  life,  did  not 
permit  any  close  friendship  between  these  fellow  teachers. 
They  were  at  this  time,  in  some  sense,  rivals  in  the  leader- 
ship of  affairs  and  opinions  that  made  Wittenberg  the 
Mecca  of  students  who  sympathized  with  their  attacks  on 
Roman  supremacy. 

Eck  was  a  trained  debater  and  profoundly  versed  in 
ecclesiastical  tradition  and  history.  In  the  discussion  at 
Leipzig  he  is  generally  conceded  to  have  won  a  dialectic 
victory  over  both  Carlstadt  and  Luther.  Historians  have 
called  attention  to  the  bouquet  of  flowers  that  Luther 
held  in  his  hand  when  he  ascended  the  rostrum  of  this 
debate.  Then,  as  always,  the  fragrance  and  beauty  of 
garden  blossoms  were  a  source  of  pleasure  that  brought 
moments  of  rest  into  his  storm-tossed  life.  His  garden 
at  Wittenberg  was  a  means  of  delightful  recreation  and 
his  correspondence  with  friends,  of  kindred  taste,  mingles 
suggestions  and  inquiries  about  garden  seeds  and  tools, 
with  weighty  doctrinal  and  ecclesiastical  discussions. 
Luther,  as  he  walked  among  his  flowers  on  his  return 
from  Leipzig,  needed  their  cheer  and  beauty.  Shaking 
off  the  depression  that  followed  this  seeming  defeat  by 


Luther's  Leadership.  97 

the  wily  Dominican,  he  wrote  an  account  of  the  Leipzig- 
Disputation  in  the  form  of  an  appeal  to  his  fellow  coun- 
tryxmni.  In  this  appeal  was  gathered  the  strength  of  long 
maturing  convictions  crystalized  with  a  white  heat  of 
thought  into  a  message  that  met  a  popular  response  far 
beyond  his  expectations.  The  keynote  of  this  message 
was  that  of  the  spiritual  priesthood  of  all  believers  that 
permitted  access,  by  direct  approach,  to  the  heart  of  In- 
finite Love.  This  message  was  followed  by  a  veritable 
flood  of  literature,  from  his  tireless  pen,  that  bore  him  to 
a  place  of  leadership  that  from  this  time  on  remained 
unchallenged. 

^leanwhile  the  enemies  of  Luther  were  busy  plotting 
schemes  that  induced  the  Pope  to  bring  him  to  trial  for 
''suspicion  of  heresy."  Prierias,  an  ofificial  expert  of  the 
Curia,  prepared  the  opinion  upon  which  the  proceedings 
were  taken  up.  He  was  so  well  pleased  with  the  argu- 
ments with  which  he  assaulted  the  Theses  of  Luther  that 
he  immediately  published  them.  This  rude  and  weak 
''opinion,"  did  little  harm  to  Luther  and  provoked  feeling 
in  his  favor.  The  citation  was  issued  early  in  June 
(1518),  but  the  official  summons  did  not  reach  Witten- 
berg until  August.  Rome  was  evidently  alarmed.  With- 
out giving  Luther  due  time  to  make  answer  the  Pope 
ordered  Cardinal  Ca^etan  to  at  once  examine  him  and  if 
he  did  not  immediately  recant,  have  him  arrested  and 
brought  to  Rome.  In  case  of  his  escape  no  time  was  to 
be  lost  in  excommunicating  him  and  all  who  favored  his 
opinions.  It  was  a  larger  contract  than  Leo  surmised. 
The  good  Elector  stepped  in  front  of  his  courageous 
Wittenberg  professor  and  the  plan  failed.  Luther  met 
Cajetan  at  Augsburg  under  an  assurance  that  he  would 
7 


98  The  Reformation. 

not  be  arrested,  and  the  angry  cardinal  after  a  conference 
with  the  "German  beast"  had  to  admit  that  there  was 
lack  of  dogmatic  basis  for  condemning  him  as  a  heretic. 
Another  plan  was  devised.  In  November  the  Pope  issued 
a  decretal,  that,  without  mentioning  the  name  of  Luther, 
condemned  his  teachings  as  heretical.  A  trained  diplo- 
mat, Karl  von  Miltiz,  was  sent  to  the  court  of  Saxony 
with  instructions  to  use  every  effort  to  secure  the  ap- 
proval of  the  Elector  to  a  scheme  that  would  place  Luther 
in  the  power  of  the  Roman  See.  He  quickly  discovered 
that  this  was  a  futile  errand,  and  decided  to  act  the  role 
of  mediator. 

Political  motives  played  an  important  part  in  this  sud- 
den change  of  front  in  the  treatment  of  Luther.  The 
Emperor  Maximilian,  head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
had  died  in  January,  15 19.  His  grandson,  Charles  of 
Spain,  and  Francis  I  of  France  were  the  leading  candi- 
dates for  this  exalted  position.  Leo  X  was  bitterly  op- 
posed to  the  succession  of  Charles,  and  favored  the 
claims  of  Francis.  Realizing  that  there  was  little  hope 
of  the  French  king  securing  the  coveted  honor  he  favored 
a  plan  that  brought  forward  the  name  of  the  Elector  of 
Saxony.  This  situation  made  him  anxious  to  hush  up  the 
Luther  matter.  It  has  even  been  surmised  that  Leo  gave 
a  diplomatic  promise  to  the  Elector  that  in  case  his 
Wittenberg  protege  would  obediently  recant  and  make 
no  further  trouble  he  might  be  elevated  to  the  cardi- 
nalate.  Bribery  and  promises  did  not  avail.  A  letter  of 
Erasmus  tells  the  story.  When  the  imperial  crown  was 
offered  to  the  noble  Duke  of  Saxony  he  refused  the 
honor  and  gave  his  influence  in  favor  of  Charles  who  was 


ROMK  PR^PARt:S  TO  ExCOxMMUNICATK  LuTHKR.        99 

elected  emperor  the  following  day  and  as  such  became 
head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. 

The  heresy  trial  was  reopened.  The  Elector  treated 
with  disdain  the  threat  of  an  interdict  if  he  continued  to 
aid  Luther.  His  reply,  framed  in  the  courteous  spirit 
that  marked  his  noble  character,  firmly  denied  tlie  power 
of  the  Curia  to  either  excommunicate  Luther  or  place 
his  own  lands  under  the  interdict  while  the  mediation 
ordered  by  Miltiz  had  not  taken  place.  Rome  made  an- 
swer through  a  scurrilous  address,  given  by  an  ofticial 
that  depicted  the  Elector  in  the  blackest  colors  "as  a  rag- 
ing, cruel  tyrant,  as  the  executioner  of  the  clergy,  the 
Apostolic  See,  indeed,  the  whole  Christian  religion,  and 
finally  even  set  him  down  as  the  twin  head  of  the  hor- 
rible Hydra  Luther.''^ 

In  February  (1520)  a  commission,  consisting  of  two 
cardinals  and  several  eminent  theologians  resident  in 
Rome,  advised  a  partial  condemnation  of  Luther's  Theses 
as  heretical,  and  suggested  that  he  be  given  another  op- 
portunity to  recant.  A  command  had  gone  from  Leo, 
to  the  head  of  the  Augustinian  order,  asking  him  to  make 
Staupitz  the  bearer  of  a  message  to  this  effect,  when  Eck, 
whose  personality  wmU  soon  have  a  prominent  place,  ap- 
pears upon  the  scene.  In  Rome,  by  invitation  of  the 
Pope,  Eck  made  statements  that  entirely  changed  the  at- 
titude of  Leo.  A  bull  of  excommunication  was  officially 
issued  on  the  14th  of  June.  This  foniiidable  document 
opened  with  these  words :  ''Rise  up,  O  Lord,  a  wild  boar 
has  invaded  your  vineyard."    It  ordered  the  burning  of 

■^Luther  hi  the  Light  of  Recent  Research.  Heinrich  Bohmer. 
Translated  by  Carl  V.  Hiith,  Jr.,  p.  14. 


loo  The  Reformation. 

all  of  Luther's  books  and  anathematized  forty-one  of  his 
Theses.  He  was  given  sixty  days  after  its  publication  in 
certain  stated  places,  to  retract.  A  privilege  which  under 
canon  law  every  heretic  enjoyed.  To  those  who  think  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  is  free  from  party  strife  and 
passion,  we  commend  a  study  of  the  part  played  in  these 
days  by  the  Dominican  order  in  their  defense  of  their 
fellow  member  Tetzel  and  tlieir  underhanded,  bitter  as- 
saults upon  the  Augustinian  order  to  which  Luther 
belonged.  Protestant  **sects"  have  often  clashed  in  an 
un-Christian  spirit  but  the  story  of  tliese  days,  in  the  life 
of  Luther,  disclose  a  far  more  malignant  type  of  fratra- 
cidal  strife.  Unity  is  of  the  spirit.  It  cannot  be  secured 
by  hierarchical  power. 


CHAPTER  X. 

HlSTORICAI,    Rei<ATION    OF    THE    REFORMATION    TO    THE 

Protestant  Churches  of  the  United  States. 

From  their  standpoint,  we  must  admit  that  Leo  and  the 
Roman  Curia  had  good  reasons  for  being  angry  with  Lu- 
ther and  anxious  to  get  rid  of  him  at  the  earhest  possible 
moment.  The  year  1520  covers  a  wonderful  twelve 
months  in  his  career  as  the  leader  of  the  Reformation. 
Strong  as  he  was ;  intellectually  and  physically  in  the 
prime  and  ripeness  of  his  versatile  genius,  it  seems  al- 
most incredible  that  he  could  have  accomplished  the 
amount  of  work  that  stands  to  his  credit.  As  never  be- 
fore he  made  the  printing  press  the  means  of  propagating 
the  seed  truth  that  in  its  scattering,  found  lodgment  in 
hearts  prepared  to  welcome  their  life  giving  message. 
Three  of  his  great  pamphlets  came  in  rapid  succession 
from  the  press  in  both  German  and  Latin. 

The  Address  to  the  Christian  Nobility  of  the  German 
Nation  urged  the  need  of  interference  by  the  secular  gov- 
ernment inasmuch  as  the  Church  had  failed  to  reform  it- 
self. *'The  Romanists,"  says  Luther,  ''have  with  great 
dexterity  built  themselves  about  with  three  walls,  which 
have  hitherto  protected  them  against  reform ;  and  there- 
by is  Christianity  fearfully  fallen.  In  the  first  place,  when 
the  temporal  power  has  pressed  them  hard,  they  have 
affirmed  and  maintained  that  the  temporal  power  has  no 
jurisdiction  over  them — that,  on  the  contrary,  the  spir- 
itual is  above  the  temporal.  Secondly,  when  it  was  pro- 
posed to  admonish  them  from  the  Holy  vScriptures  they 
said,  *It  beseems  no  one  but  the  pope  to  interpret  the 

lOI 


102  The  Refor^iatiox. 

Scriptures,'  and  thirdly,  when  they  were  threatened  with 
a  council,  they  invented  the  idea  that  no  one  but  the  pope 
can  call  a  council.  Thus  they  have  secretly  stolen  our 
three  rods  that  they  may  go  unpunished,  and  have  en- 
trenched themselves  safely  behind  these  three  walls  in 
order  to  carry  on  all  the  rascality  and  wickedness  that 
we  now  see." 

He  exposes  in  his  trenchant  fashion  the  hypocrisy  of 
the  distinction  made  between  the  ''spiritual  estate,"  com- 
posed of  the  pope  and  other  ecclesiastics,  and  the  "tem- 
poral estate,"  made  up  of  princes,  artisans  and  peasants. 
"A  cobbler,  a  smith,  a  peasant,  every  man  has  his  own 
calling  and  duty,"  says  Luther,  "just  like  the  consecrated 
priests  and  bishops,  and  every  one  in  his  calling  or  office 
must  help  and  serve  the  rest,  so  that  all  may  work  together 
for  the  common  good." 

The  luxurious  life  of  the  Papal  Court  and  the  tax  it 
laid  upon  the  hard  earned  resources  of  the  common  peo- 
ple, are  exposed  with  pitiless  frankness.  "What  the  Ro- 
manists really  mean  to  do,"  says  Luther,  "the  'drunken 
Germans'  are  not  to  see  until  they  have  lost  everything. 
*  *  *  If  we  rightly  hang  thieves  and  behead  robbers, 
why  do  we  leave  the  greed  of  Rome  unpunished?  for 
Rome  is  the  greatest  thief  and  robber  that  has  ever  ap- 
peared on  earth,  or  ever  will ;  and  all  in  the  holy  names 
of  the  Church  and  St.  Peter."  Asserting  the  freedom 
and  duty  of  the  secular  power  to  correx:t  these  evils  Lu- 
ther suggested  plans  for  reducing  the  number  of  idle 
monks,  stopping  the  calls  for  money  to  pay  for  the  lux- 
uries of  a  foreign  court,  prohibiting  drinking  habits,  and 
reforming  matters  generally.  "Let  the  power  of  the 
Pope  be  reduced  within  clear  limits.     Let  there  be  fewer 


Luther's  Attack  on  Romi^.  103 

cardinals,  and  let  them  not  keep  the  best  things  to  them- 
selves. Let  the  national  churches  be  more  independent 
of  Rome.  Let  there  be  fewer  pilgrimages  to  Italy.  Let 
there  be  fewer  convents.  Let  priests  marry.  Let  begging 
be  stopped  by  making  each  parish  take  charge  of  its  own 
poor.  Let  us  inquire  into  the  position  of  the  Bohemians, 
and  if  Huss  was  in  the  right,  let  us  join  with  him  in  re- 
sisting Rome."  With  a  clarion  note  of  defiance  he  closes 
with  these  words  :  "Enough  for  this  time !  I  know  right 
well  that  I  have  sung  in  a  high  strain.  Well,  I  know  an- 
other little  song  about  Rome  and  her  people!  Do  their 
ears  itch?  I  will  sing  it  also,  and  in  the  highest  notes! 
Dost  thou  know  well,  my  dear  Rome,  what  I  mean?" 

This  ''other  little  song"  was  an  attack  upon  the  doc- 
trines of  Rome.  The  pamphlet  On  the  Babylonish  Cap- 
tizrity  of  the  Church,  denied  that  the  supremacy  of  the 
Pope  was  of  divine  right.  Luther  boldly  attacked  the  sac- 
ramental system  of  the  Middle  Ages,  reducing  the  num- 
bers from  seven  to  three — Baptism,  Penance,  and  the 
Lord's  Supper.  Declaring  the  Pope  a  usurper,  and  the 
Papacy  the  kingdom  of  Babylon,  he  closed  his  iconoclastic 
message  with  another  defiant  note.  "He  heard  that  Bulls 
and  other  terrible  Papistical  things  were  being  prepared, 
by  which  he  was  to  be  urged  to  recant  or  be  declared  a 
heretic.  Let  this  little  book  be  taken  as  a  part  of  his  re- 
cantation, and  as  an  earnest  of  what  was  to  come." 

Luther  had  indeed  "taken  the  bull  by  the  horns" !  No 
wonder  the  ease  loving  Erasmus  was  disturbed  and  fear- 
ful over  such  defiant  words,  but  we  remember  the  scene 
at  the  Elector's  palace  fireside  when,  in  reply  to  the 
Duke's  question  as  to  "What  he  really  thought  of  Lu- 
ther," Erasmus  smiled  and  replied,  "Luther  has  com- 


104  The  Rei^ormation. 

mitted  two  crimes!     He  has  hit  the  Pope  on  the  crown 
and  the  monks  on  the  belly." 

Doubtless  the  Elector  recalled  his  dream.  The  pen  of 
Luther  had  reached  Rome.  While  the  friends  of  the 
Wittenberg  professor  shook  their  heads  and  his  good 
friend  the  Duke  suggested  that  he  tone  down  his  militant 
style,  it  is  evident  that  then,  as  always,  the  strong,  brave 
reformer  was  not  only  admired  but  welcomed  as  the 
providential  man  for  the  hour.  It  was  an  hour  that  called 
for  courage  of  the  highest  type.  Only  drastic  remedies 
could  avail. 

Another  pamphlet  in  this  year  of  proHfic  intellectual 
labor  gives  us  the  spiritual  heart  thought  and  life  of  the 
great  Reformer.  The  Freedom  of  the  Christian  is  Lu- 
ther's testimony  and  doctrinal  beliefs  as  they  had  been 
wrought  out  in  the  spiritual  struggles  and  experiences  of 
early  manhood.  It  was  a  message  that  unfolded  the 
depths  of  the  riches  of  Divine  grace  and  disclosed  a  gos- 
pel of  love  and  hope  that  brought  cheer  and  light  into 
multitudes  of  hearts  and  homes  in  Germany  and  far  be- 
yond its  boundaries. 

The  closing  act,  in  this  history  making  year,  was  the 
burning  of  the  Pope's  Bull,  December  lo,  1520.  ''Had 
there  been  a  mountain  at  Wittenberg,"  says  Seebohm, 
'Xuther  would  have  lit  the  bonfire  on  the  top,  and  let  the 
world,  far  and  near,  see  the  Pope's  Bull  blaze  in  its 
flames.  But  there  was  not  even  a  hill  in  that  flat  coun- 
try." Heading  the  procession  with  his  fellow^  professors, 
and  followed  by  the  students  of  the  university  and  a 
crowd  of  citizens  Luther  marched  through  the  Elster 
gate  and  on  the  banks  of  the  Elbe,  cast  the  papal  decree 
of  excommunication  into  flames  that  were  also  fed  with 


Thk  FoRivMosT  Lkadkr  of  thiv  RivFormation.     105 

as  many  Roman  law  books  as  he  could  secure.  The 
cheers  that  rose  from  the  excited  crowd  were  taken  up  all 
over  Europe  as  tidings  came  of  Luther's  defiant  act.  The 
Reformation  had  found  its  foremost  leader.  From  this 
time  forth  Luther  stands  in  the  light  that  for  four  cen- 
turies has  kept  his  work  and  personality  in  the  eyes  of 
men  of  every  land  where  the  Bible  has  given  the  radiance 
of  its  message.  It  is  a  very  human  life  that  stands  in  this 
limelight.  There  is  no  need  to  paint  him  other  than  he 
was.  Impetuous  in  temperament ;  moved  often  by  strong 
passions  and  by  no  means  free  from  habits  that  marked 
the  social  usages  of  his  age,  Luther  as  he  stands  in  the 
light  of  the  flames  that  consumed  the  edict  of  Rome  is  a 
man  whose  nobility  of  character,  loyalty  to  Christ,  and 
imperial  qualities  of  genius,  grows  upon  us  as  we  come 
closer  to  him  and  follow  him  in  the  hard  and  rugged  path 
that  he  trode  until  release  came  from  earthly  labors. 

No  man  was  ever  called  to  face  more  bitter  and  sub- 
tile enmity.  But  the  arrows  of  poisoned  malignity  fell 
harmless  at  the  feet  of  the  great  leader  who  recognized 
his  human  frailties  as  no  one  else  could  do  but,  through 
the  pathway  of  constant  prayer  and  obedient  trustful 
faith  in  God  and  His  atoning  grace,  won  the  victory  over 
self,  the  world  and  all  the  powers  of  darkness. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Luther  at  the  Diet  of  Worms. 

Charles  V.  opened  his  first  German  diet  at  Worms  on 
the  22d  of  January,  1521.  Among  English  State  papers 
a  copy  has  been  preserved  of  "Agenda"  entitled,  *'A 
memory  of  divers  matters  to  be  provided  in  the  present 
Diet  of  Worms."  Under  caption  four  the  diet  was  asked 
*'to  take  notice  of  the  books  and  descriptions  made 
by  Friar  Martin  Luther  against  the  Court  of  Rome." 
The  battle  royal  w^as  on.  The  great  question  of  the  hour 
was,  How  to  get  rid  of  this  troublesome  monk?  But  for 
the  protection  of  the  Elector  of  Saxony  matters  would 
have  gone  hard  with  Luther.  The  Pope's  envoy,  Ale- 
ander,  was  under  instruction  to  secure  his  condemnation 
as  an  outlaw.  The  emperor  was  ready  to  act  within 
his  own  hereditary  dominions  but  he  wisely  hesitated  to 
extend  this  decree  within  the  boundaries  of  the  German 
Empire.  As  the  outcome  of  the  prolonged  discussion 
the  emperor  agreed  to  summon  Luther  to  Worms  under 
a  safe  conduct. 

It  was  an  hour  in  which  the  Reformer's  courage  did  not 
falter.  He  was  prepared  for  the  worst.  "My  dear  brother," 
he  said  to  Melanchthon  as  he  bade  him  good-bye, 
"if  I  do  not  come  back,  if  my  enemies  put  me  to  death, 
you  will  go  on  teaching  and  standing  fast  in  the  truth ; 
if  you  live,  my  death  will  matter  little."  It  was  a  tearful 
company  from  which  he  parted  as  he  stepped  into  the 
wagon  that  carried  him  on  his  twelve  days'  journey  to 
Worms ;   days  that  were  crowded  with  incidents  that  dis- 

106 


LuTiiKR  ON  THK  Way  to  Worms.  107 

closed  the  popular  sympathy  and  strengthened  Luther  in 
his  time  of  trial.  The  story  is  told  of  his  interview  with 
a  priest  who  kept  in  his  study  a  portrait  of  Savonarola. 
Taking  the  picture  from  the  wall,  he  held  it  for  a  mo- 
ment in  silence  before  his  guest.  "Stand  firm,"  he  at 
length  said,  "in  the  truth  thou  hast  proclaimed,  and  God 
will  as  firmly  stand  by  thee."  Luther  rested  one  night  at 
Erfurt  and  slept  in  the  old  convent  whose  walls  had  wit- 
nessed the  mental  and  spiritual  struggles  of  earlier  days. 
The  following  morning,  regardless  of  the  terms  of  his 
safe  conduct,  he  preached  to  a  crowded  congregation  in 
the  convent  church. 

From  Frankfort  he  wrote  Spalatin,  "Christ  lives,  and 
we  wnll  enter  Worms  in  spite  of  all  the  gates  of  hell  and 
the  powers  of  the  air."  At  one  place  a  parody  on  the 
Litany  gave  forceful  expression  to  the  excited  condition 
of  public  opinion.  "Have  mercy,"  it  said,  "upon  the 
Germans.  From  the  tyranny  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  de- 
liver the  Germans.  From  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the 
Romans  deliver  the  Germans.  That  Martin  Luther,  that 
upright  pillar  of  the  Christian  faith,  may  soon  arrive  at 
Worms,  we  beseech  thee  to  hear  us.  That  the  zealous 
German  Knight,  Ulrich  Hutten,  the  defender  of  Martin 
Luther,  may  persevere  in  upholding  Luther,  we  beseech 
thee  to  hear  us."  It  was  a  triumphal  journey,  measured 
by  the  enthusiastic  gi-eeting  of  the  populace.  Luther  en- 
tered into  the  spirit  of  the  people  with  kindly  good  humor 
and  for  his  own  relief,  as  well  as  the  joy  of  his  admirers, 
he  joined  the  notes  of  his  favorite  flute  with  their  evening 
songs  and  German  good  cheer.  But  in  it  all,  as  one  of  the 
historians  of  this  scene  has  wisely  said,  ''The  point  to 
mark  is  this — it  did  not  turn  the  head  of  Luther." 


io8  The:  Ri^formation. 

News  of  the  popular  demonstrations  that  had  attended 
the  journey  of  Luther  and  his  companions  reached 
Worms  in  advance.  The  young  emperor  and  his  papal 
advisers  were  both  angry  and  troubled.  Messages  of 
compromise  were  sent  to  Luther  but  he  refused  to  con- 
sider them  before  he  arrived  at  VVoniis.  In  answer  to  a 
possible  plot  of  treachery,  which  called  up  the  story  of 
Huss,  Luther  replied:  "Huss  was  burned  but  not  the 
trutli  with  him."  In  after  days  while  recalling,  with  his 
beloved  friend,  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  the  experiences  of 
these  times  of  stress,  he  said :  "The  Devil  saw  in  my 
heart  that  even  had  I  known  that  there  would  be  as  many 
devils  at  Woi-ms  as  tiles  upon  the  housetops  still  I  should 
gladly  have  plunged  in  among  them.'' 

As  he  drew  near  the  city  towards  noon  of  April  i6th, 
he  was  met  by  six  knights  and  a  troop  of  horsemen  led 
by  the  emperor's  herald.  A  crowd  gathered  about  him 
as  he  stepped  down  from  the  covered  wagon  dressed  in 
his  plain  monk's  gown.  The  rest  of  the  day,  we  are  told, 
he  spent  in  prayer,  playing  at  intervals  upon  his  flute,  and 
administering  the  communion  to  a  Saxon  nobleman,  in  an 
adjoining  room,  Avho  was  dangerously  ill. 

It  was  nearly  evening  of  the  following  day  when  Lu- 
ther appeared  before  the  Diet.  The  crowd  within  and 
without  the  palace  was  so  great  that  he  was  brought  into 
the  presence  of  the  emperor  and  the  archbishops,  bishops, 
and  nobility  that  surrounded  the  throne,  by  a  private  en- 
trance. A  pile  of  his  books  were  upon  the  table  before 
which  he  stood.  Aleander,  the  papal  Nuncio  opened 
the  examination  with  the  questions,  "Do  you  acknowledge 
these  books  to  be  yours?  Do  you  retract  the  heretical 
doctrines  they  contain  ?"    With  demeanor  so  modest  that 


LUTHKR  AT   THE   DiET  OF   WoRMS.  I09 

many  thought  he  was  ready  to  recant,  Luther  repHed,  "I 
think  the  books  are  mine."  After  the  titles  were  read,  he 
said:  "Yes,  the  books  are  mine."  As  to  the  second  ques- 
tion, he  asked  for  time  for  reflection.  This  request  was 
no  doubt  made  at  the  suggestion  of  his  legal  counsellor. 
On  returning  to  his  lodgings  he  wrote  an  account  of  the 
day's  doings  to  a  friend  in  which  he  said :  "With  Christ's 
help,  I  shall  never  retract  one  tittle," 

The  next  afternoon  the  streets  were  thronged  with 
people  and  even  the  housetops  were  occupied  by  spec- 
tators eager  to  get  a  glimpse  of  the  young  Wittenberg 
professor.  As  Luther  entered  the  hall  several  noblemen 
took  occasion  to  whisper  encouraging  words  as  he  passed 
them.  He  spoke  that  hour  not  only  as  a  faithful  servant  of 
Christ  but  the  representative  of  the  German  people.  His 
address  contended  that  in  his  books  he  had  treated  of 
faith  and  morals  in  such  a  spirit  that  even  his  opponents 
must  admit  they  were  worthy  to  be  read  by  Christian  peo- 
ple. His  books  against  the  papacy  had  attacked  only 
those  "who  had  wasted  and  ruined  Christendom,  body 
and  soul."  To  retract  the  statements  he  had  made  would 
only  "strengthen  this  tyranny."  As  to  the  books  that  had 
been  written  against  some  private  individuals  he  ex- 
pressed regret  that  he  had  sometimes  "been  more  vehe- 
ment  than  is  consistent  with  the  character  and  position  of 
a  Christian.  For  I  do  not  set  myself  up,"  said  Luther, 
"as  holy.  I  do  not,  however,  dispute  for  my  own  life. 
but  the  doctrine  of  Christ.  I  cannot  retract  even  these 
books,  but  I  am  ready  to  listen  to  anyone  who  can  show 
me  where  in  these  books  I  have  erred."  He  had  spoken  in 
German,  and  was  exhausted  with  the  intensity  of  his  feel- 
ing and  the  excitement  of  his'  surroundings.     The  em- 


no  The  Reformation. 

peror,  who  understood  German  imperfectly,  ordered  him 
to  repeat  his  address  in  Latin.  The  papal  party  as  well 
as  the  emperor,  as  they  understood  his  position  more 
clearly,  could  not  conceal  their  anger.  The  court  coun- 
sellor claimed  that  he  was  quibbling  and  demanded  a 
plain  answer.  This  stirred  the  indignation  of  the  lion- 
hearted  Reformer,  and  we  can  faintly  imagine  the  tones 
of  his  sonorous  voice  as  he  flung  back  this  reply:  "Well, 
then,  if  your  Imperial  Majesty  requires  a  plain  answer, 
I  will  give  one  without  horns  or  teeth !  It  is  this :  that 
I  must  be  convinced  either  by  the  testimony  of  the  Scrip- 
tures or  clear  arguments.  For  I  believe  things  contrary 
to  the  Pope  and  Councils,  because  it  is  as  clear  as  day  that 
they  have  often  erred  and  said  things  inconsistent  with 
themselves.  I  am  bound  by  the  Scriptures  which  I  have 
quoted ;  my  conscience  is  submissive  to  the  Word  of  God ; 
therefore  I  may  not,  and  will  not,  recant,  because  to  act 
against  conscience  is  unholy  and  unsafe.  So  help  me 
God !    Amen.'' 

This  hour  was  a  turning  point  in  the  history  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  world.  The  Diet  adjourned  to  meet  the 
following  morning  and  receive  the  decision  of  the  em- 
peror. The  stubborn,  relentless  nature  of  Charles  V.  is 
discovered  in  all  his  actions  at  this  crucial  hour.  He 
knew  full  well  the  iniquities  hidden  under  the  pride  and 
lustful  ambitions  of  the  Papal  Court.  It  was  his  purpose 
and  desire  to  secure  reforms  in  the  Church,  if  necessary, 
against  the  Pope's  will.  These  reforms  he  believed  could 
be  brought  about  by  a  council  and  in  the  face  of  many 
obstacles  and  discouragements  he  labored  to  this  end  until 
his  purpose  was  accomplished  twenty  years  later  in  the 
assembling:  of  the  famous  council  of  Trent. 


Luther  at  the  Diet  oe  Worms.  hi 

The  very  fact  that  Charles  had  become  interested  in 
plans  looking  to  a  purging  of  evil  within  the  Church  made 
him  all  the  more  important  with  monks  and  teachers  vvho 
ventured  to  raise  their  voices  in  condemnation  of  Rome. 
Let  this  work  be  done  by  emperor,  princes,  and  prelates 
in  an  orderly,  impressive  way,  to  be  sanctioned  and  pro- 
claimed by  his  voice  as  the  head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire. The  emissaries  of  Rome  had  taken  every  oppor- 
tunity to  blacken  the  character  of  Luther  and  brand  him 
as  a  "German  beast,"  and  when  he  came  into  the  royal 
presence  in  the  palace  hall  at  Worms  he  stood  before  the 
emperor  as  a  detested  heretic.  It  is  vain  to  imagine  the 
feelings  that  stirred  the  proud,  obstinate  nature  of 
Charles  V.  as  he  listened  to  Luther's  final  outburst  of 
eloquent  indignation  and  righteous  defiance.  It  is  a  pic- 
ture that  has  hung  in  the  gallery  of  the  world's  thought 
and  imagination  for  four  centuries.  Its  colors  are  mixed 
with  the  realities  of  eternal  truth  and  will  never  fade. 
In  that  audience  room  crowded  with  the  nobility  of  Eu- 
rope and  the  representatives  of  Rome  the  lesser  figures 
have  grown  dim  in  the  passing  years.  Two  figures  abide. 
One,  raised  by  birth  and  heritage  to  the  proudest  place 
of  imperial  power  in  the  then  known  world.  The  other, 
a  teacher  of  theology  in  the  youngest  of  the  multitude  of 
European  universities,  facing  in  his  monk's  garb,  the  men 
who  were  hounding  him  with  relentless  purpose  to  a  "here- 
tic's" death.  Both  of  the  leading  actors  in  this  scene  were 
young  men.  Luther  was  thirty-six  years  old,  and  Charles 
in  his  twenty-first.  Little  could  they  realize  the  life  work 
that  was  before  them.  The  imperial  power  of  truth  was 
to  win  victories  that  in  four  centuries  has  crowned  the 
monk  of  Wittenberg  as  the  foremost  leader  of  the  Prot- 


112  Thk  Reformation. 

estant  Reformation  and  given  a  place  to  Charles  V., 
among  the  rulers  of  princely  blood,  as  a  foremost  expo- 
nent of  imperialistic  and  hierarchical  principles  that  are 
more  and  more  yielding  to  the  principles  of  democracy; 
principles  that  lie  at  the  foundation  of  the  unity  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  State:  principles  rooted  in  the  Testa- 
ment of  the  Incarnate  Christ  and  assuring  the  final  tri- 
umph of  His  kingdom  in  the  Brotherhood  of  humanity. 

On  the  morning  of  April  19th  the  Diet  assembled  to 
receive  the  message  Charles  V.  had  written  in  French 
with  his  own  hand,  but  doubtless  with  the  efficient  aid  of 
Aleander,  the  astute  representative  of  the  Pope.  Its 
keynote  was  the  young  emperor's  haughty  exclamation: 
"What  my  forefathers  established  at  the  Council  of  Con- 
stance and  other  councils,  it  is  my  privilege  to  maintain.'' 
The  edict  pronounced  against  Luther  condemned  him  as 
an  outlaw\  The  printing,  selling  and  reading  of  his 
books  was  forbidden  ''since  they  are  foul,  harmful,  sus- 
pected, and  come  from  a  notorious  and  stiff-necked  here- 
tic." These  books  had  previously  been  branded  by  the 
papal  nuncio  as  having  ''brought  together  all  previous 
heresies  in  one  stinking  mass."  If,  sometimes,  in  reading 
the  vigorous  lashings  of  Luther's  tongue  and  pen,  we  sym- 
pathize with  the  feelings  of  the  wise  Elector  and  Me- 
lanchthon  in  their  plea  that  milder  words  be  used,  it  is 
well  to  recall  the  bitter,  vulgar,  and  utterly  false  state- 
ments with  which  Rome  assailed  the  Wittenberg  reformer 
and  all  his  teachings. 

The  populace  of  Worms,  and  other  German  towns,  had 
given  full  play  to  their  bitter  resentment  and  feeling 
against  the  Roman  hierarchy.  Aleander  naturally  re- 
sented the  open  insults  which  he  and  his  party  had  en- 


MURMURINGS  or   REVOLT.  113 

dured.  Having  won  over  the  young  emperor  to  their  side 
they  sought  to  induce  him  to  withdraw  the  safe  conduct 
that  still  kept  Luther  out  of  their  clutches.  The  prec- 
edent of  Huss  was  recalled.  "Why  should  not  Luther 
with  Huss,  be  burned,  and  the  Rhine  receive  the  ashes  of 
the  one  as  it  had  those  of  the  other?"  Changes  had  come 
in  the  relative  position  of  the  princes  of  Rome  and  the 
nobility  of  nations,  in  their  birth  throes,  since  the  Council 
of  Constance.  This  new  risen  power  sheltered  Luther 
and  left  the  angry  ambassadors  of  Rome  to  lay  further 
plans  to  trap  the  hated  German  heretic ;  hated  the  more 
because  they  recognized  that  he  voiced  the  cry  of  a  nation. 
This  cry  was  gathering  strength  in  the  very  hour  when 
the  edict  was  read  that  condemned  Luther  as  an  outlaw. 
Ulrich  von  Hutten,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  later  on, 
was  a  leader  in  the  crowd  whose  murmurings  must  have 
been  wafted  through  the  windows  of  the  assembling 
place  of  the  Diet  that  April  morning.  A  few^  days  later 
when  word  came  that  Luther  was  missing,  an  unknown 
hand  posted  a  placard  on  the  walls  of  the  Town  Hall, 
stating  that  400  knights  and  800  footmen  were  ready  to 
avenge  Luther  if  he  were  harmed  by  the  Romanists.  It 
bore  no  signature  but  underneath  the  ominous  watchword 
of  peasant  revolts  was  thrice  repeated,  Bundschith,  Btind- 
schuh,  Bundschith.  It  was  indeed  a  handwriting  on  the 
wall.  Revolutions  are  terrible,  but  the  sins  that  compel 
their  dynamic  explosions  are  far  more  terrible.  They 
must  needs  be  a  part  of  the  world's  history  in  the  battle 
for  democracy  and  the  rights  of  the  people  against  en- 
trenched evils  and  the  aristocratic  supremacy  of  vested 
powers  wrested  from  their  rightful  possessors.  Luther 
at  Worms  stood  fast  as  the  servant  of  God.  His  courage 
8 


114  The  Reformation. 

was  rewarded  not  only  by  the  Divine  approval  but  in  tbat 
hour  he  was  set  apart  as  the  religious  and  ethical  leader 
of  a  nation ;  nay  more  as  the  most  prominent  personality 
in  a  Reformation  that  has  changed  the  destinies  of  hu- 
manity, a  Mt.  Blanc,  in  a  world  drama  when  other 
names  appear  whose  influence  and  character  was  such  as 
lift  them  to  heights  that  place  them  among  the  immortals 
whom  the  generations  will  not  willingly  let  die. 

Charles  V.  was  reluctantly  compelled  to  give  heed  to 
the  appeal  of  the  Electors  and  granted  a  few  more  days 
of  respite  in  which  every  effort  was  made  to  shake  the 
opinions  and  convictions  of  Luther.  For  him  the  die 
was  cast.  On  the  26th  of  April  the  emperor  ordered  him 
to  leave  the  city.  In  twenty-one  days  his  safe  conduct 
would  expire.  "He  left  Worms  the  hero  of  the  German 
nation.  Single  handed  he  had  fought  the  battle  of  Ger- 
many against  the  Pope.  He  had  hazarded  his  life  for 
the  sake  of  the  Fatherland.  It  was  this  which  made  Lu- 
ther's name  a  household  word  with  the  Germans  for  ages 
to  come.  There  is  no  name  in  the  roll  of  German  historic 
heroes  so  German,  national  and  typical  as  Luther's.  He 
fought  a  battle  at  Worms  not  only  for  Germany  but  for 
Christendom — not  only  against  the  Pope,  but  against  all 
powers,  religious  or  secular,  who  seek  to  lay  chains  upon 
the  human  mind  and  to  enthrall  the  free  belief  of  the 
people.  Against  the  emperor  as  well  as  the  Pope,  against 
all  powers  that  be,  he  asserted  the  right  of  fredom  of 
conscience"  (Seebohm). 

When  tidings  came  to  Worms  and  other  German 
cities  that  Luther  had  been  suddenly  abducted  by  a  band 
of  horsemen,  intense  excitement  prevailed.  The  placard 
posted  on  the  Town  Hall  at  Worms  expressed  the  feeling 


LuTiiKR  AT  THE  Castle  oe  the  Waktcukg.      115 

and  purpose  of  the  common  people  and  many  of  tlie  no- 
bility. The  wildest  rumors  prevailed.  A  report  found 
\vidc  credence  that  Luther's  body  had  been  discoverd  in  a 
silver  mine  pierced  with  a  dagger.  That  he  had  been 
slain  by  papal  emissaries  was  generally  believed.  The 
true  story  of  his  disappearance  was  long  kept  a  secret. 
Before  he  left  Worms  his  influential  friends  among  the 
nobility  had  good  reason  to  believe  that  with  the  expira- 
tion of  the  few  days  covered  by  his  safe  conduct  he 
would  immediately  fall  a  victim  to  the  hate  of  Rome. 
The  Elector  of  Saxony  quietly  commissioned  two  of  his 
officers  to  seize  Luther  while  on  his  homeward  journey 
and  convey  him  to  some  place  of  safety  without  letting 
him  know  wdiere  he  was  going.  Indeed  several  weeks 
passed  before  the  Elector  knew  that  Luther  was  safe  in 
his  own  castle  of  the  Wartburg.  The  final  edict  against 
the  arch  heretic  was  delayed  until  the  last  of  ]\Iay.  While 
the  German  nobility  as  a  rule  had  little  interest  in  or 
knowledge  of  the  doctrinal  views  of  Luther,  they  had 
still  less  interest  in  carrying  out  the  mandates  of  Rome 
and  the  ban  that  outlawed  the  Wittenberg  teacher  and  all 
his  adherents,  failed  of  any  general  pubHcation. 


CHAPTER  XIL 

The  Bkginning  of  tiif.  Storm  of  Rfvolution. 

The  angry  murmurings  of  the  populace  at  Worms,  and 
the  hiding  of  Luther  in  the  fastnesses  of  the  Thuringian 
forests,  betokened  conditions  that  soon  culminated  in 
revolutionary  action  that  sv/ept  with  blood  red  flames 
through  Germany  and  startled  all  Europe.  There  was  a 
brief  lull  before  the  storm  broke.  Luther  in  the  seclusion 
of  the  Wartburg  castle  was  busy  with  his  pen  in  an  ex- 
tended correspondence  that  kept  him  in  close  touch  with 
the  outside  world.  The  manuscript  of  pamphlet  after 
pamphlet  was  completed,  and  he  began  the  great  transla- 
tion of  the  Bible  into  the  German  tongue,  that  was  to 
stand  through  untold  generations  as  a  monument  of  his 
versatile  genius  and  marvelous  insight  into  the  treasures 
of  the  Revealed  Truth.  "The  crowning  gift  of  Luther  to 
the  German  people  was  in  fact  his  German  Bible  and  his 
German  hymns.  The  earnest,  vigorous  German  in  which 
they  are  written  fixed  the  future  style  of  the  language. 
The  Gennan  spoken  to-day  is  the  German  of  Luther's 
Bible  and  hymns.  They  have  been  better  known  by  the 
German  people  than  any  other  literature,  and  so  have 
done  more  than  perhaps  anything  else  to  form  the  Ger- 
man language,  and  with  it  in  no  small  degree  the  national 
character."     (Seebohm.) 

Luther  was  a  lover  of  music  and  when  his  pen  was 
idle  his  favorite  flute  woke  the  echoes  of  his  cloister  room 
at  Wartburg  and  was  wafted  through  the  windows  with 
their  wonderful  outlook  over  the  forest-clad  mountains 

Ii6 


Thr  Struggle  for  Europkan  Lkadersiiip.      117 

that  were  a  source  of  constant  refreslunent.  While  the 
date  of  the  writing  of  his  great  hymn  (liin  feste  Burg  ist 
wiser  Gott)  "A  sure  stronghold  our  God  is  He,"  will 
probably  remain  in  doubt,  it  seems  most  natural  that  its 
marvellous  strains  should  have  burst  from  the  heart  of 
Luther  in  these  days  of  solitude  in  the  fortress-like  castle 
of  the  Wartburg.  "It  was,"  says  Ranke,  ''the  production 
of  the  moment  in  which  Luther,  engaged  in  a  conflict  with 
a  world  of  foes,  sought  strength  in  the  consciousness  that 
he  was  defending  a  divine  cause  which  could  never  per- 
ish." Heine  called  it  *'the  Marseillaise  of  the  Reforma- 
tion," and  Carlyle  likens  it  to  ''a  sound  of  Alpine  ava- 
lanches, or  the  first  murmur  of  earthquakes." 

While  Luther  is  sheltered  in  the  Wartburg  how  goes 
affairs  in  the  outside  w^orld  ?  The  story  of  political  feuds, 
ecclesiastical  intrigues,  and  religious  and  social  up- 
heavals, that  marked  these  days,  and  the  years  near  at 
hand,  have  furnished  material  for  historians  whose  vol- 
umes fill  libraries.  The  decision  at  Worms  that  con- 
demned Luther  as  an  outlaw,  had  its  roots  in  political 
as  well  as  religious  conflicts.  The  Reformation  period 
was  preceded  ])y  a  European  struggle  in  which  France 
and  Spain  contended  for  mastery.  Italy  was  the  battle- 
field and  Milan  and  Naples  were  prizes  to  be  won.  The 
moves  upon  the  chess  board  were  swift  and  in  the  final 
result,  Spain  held  the  northern  city,  and  gained  control 
of  Naples,  while  the  Pope  united  Spain,  Germany  and 
England  in  an  alliance  that  sought  to  drive  France  out  of 
Italy.  Francis  I.  came  to  the  throne  with  a  proud  boast 
that  his  armies  w^ould  soon  make  him  master  of  Europe. 
The  oriflamme  banner  of  France  again  floated  above  the 
ramparts  of  Milan.    Then  followed  the  struggle  for  em- 


ii8  The  Reformation. 

pire.  Charles  V.  won  the  coveted  prize,  and  as  crowned 
head  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  ascended  the  throne  of 
Germany.  The  ambitious  career  of  Francis  I.  was 
checked.  Leo  X.  sought  an  alliance  with  Charles  in  the 
hope  of  driving  the  French  out  of  Italy.  Henry  VHI.  of 
England,  wished  to  strengthen  the  link  that,  through  his 
marriage  with  Catherine  of  Arragon,  Charles's  aunt, 
brought  him  into  close  relation  with  Spain.  He  was  ready 
to  break  the  engagement  of  the  Princess  Mary  with  the 
Dauphin  of  France  if  he  could  arrange  her  marriage  with 
Charles.  Naturally  the  youthful  Emperor  was  ready  to 
form  alliances  that  would  strengthen  his  position  against 
France.  He  was  very  unhappy  over  the  conquest  of 
Milan  by  his  young  rival.  It  was  a  merry  game  in  which 
royal  duplicity  prepared  the  way  for  a  seed  sowing  of 
bloody  harvest  fields.  The  Pope  played  a  double  game. 
Francis  was  preparing  to  cross  the  Alps  and  lead  his 
armies  into  Italy.  Charles  V.  and  Henry  VIII.  were 
standing  together  to  thwart  the  ambitious  schemes  of  the 
French  king.  Watching  events  from  his  Vatican  cham- 
ber, Leo  decided  to  place  himself  by  the  side  of  Charles 
in  the  hope  that  he  would  help  him  in  getting  rid  of  the 
pestilent  Wittenberg  heretic. 

These  political  intrigues  must  be  kept  in  mind  in  order 
to  understand  the  reasons  that  determined  the  action  at 
Worms  that  outlawed  Luther  and  his  adherents.  In  the 
alliance,  concluded  May  8th,  the  Emperor  and  the  Pope 
stood  together  against  Francis  as  well  as  Luther.  This  out- 
come of  long  and  carefully  conducted  political  intrigues 
was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  the  German  people.  They 
knew  full  well  that  it  was  the  action  of  the  beloved  Elec- 
tor of  Saxony  that  had  turned  the  balance  in  favor  of 


Premonitions  of  Revolution.  119 

Charles  and  crowned  him  Emperor.  And  now  in  the  hour 
when  they  hoped  for  release  from  the  tyranny  of  Rome 
he  had  linked  hands  with  the  Pope.  The  council  of  re- 
gency of  which  the  Elector  of  Saxony  was  made  the  head, 
was  powerless  either  to  remedy  existing  evils  or  stay  the 
tide  of  revolution  that,  like  the  melting  of  snow  in  spring 
time,  was  gathering  innumerable  rivulets  whose  united 
strength  was  ready  to  sweep,  as  a  mighty  torrent,  through 
the  forest  glades  and  valleys  of  Gemiany. 

The  Beginning  of  Revolution  (1522). 

While  Luther  is  writing,  praying,  pondering,  in  his 
watch  tower  at  the  Wartburg,  matters  are  not  going  well 
at  Wittenberg.  The  university  was  crowded  with  stu- 
dents eagerly  drinking  in  the  spirit  and  teaching  of  the 
man  whom  Luther  never  trusted.  Carlstadt  now  came 
to  the  place  of  leadership  that  he  had  long  coveted.  He 
did  all  he  could  to  foster  the  restless  iconoclastic  spirit 
that  had  taken  possession  of  the  city  and  surrounding 
country.  W^hile  many  monks  deserted  the  monasteries 
and  entered  various  trades,  Carlstadt  found  the  way  open 
for  the  radical  changes  in  public  worship,  and  other  mat- 
ters that  he  had  long  advocated. 

At  Zwickau  in  Bohemia,  a  weaver  by  the  name  of  Clans 
Storch,  filled  with  fanatical  zeal,  had  gained  a  few  fellow 
believers  in  what  he  asserted  was  a  divinely  inspired  mes- 
sage. They  posed  as  prophets  of  a  faith  that  had  no  place 
for  priests  or  the  Bible.  Their  wild  ravings  found  re- 
sponse in  hearts  ready  for  violence  and  violent  deeds. 
Driven  out  of  Zwickau,  Storch  and  his  companions  found 
their  way  to  Wittenberg.  Carlstadt  made  them  welcome 
and  members  in  the  city  and  university  speedily  caught 


I20  Thi;  Rkformation. 

the  frenzy  of  the  wild,  ignorant  artisans  from  Bohemia; 
the  preaching  of  Carlstadt,  and  that  of  a  young  Augiis- 
tinian  monk  by  the  name  of  Zwilling,  had  ah'eady  kindled 
a  conflagration  that  had  broken  out  in  riots.  In  vain  did 
Frederick  the  Wise  and  Melanchthon  counsel  moderation 
and  a  more  quiet  and  lawful  spirit  of  reform.  Even  the 
authorities  of  the  city  were  restless  of  restraint.  Mat- 
ters came  to  such  a  pass  that  the  altar  clergy  were  stoned 
while  discharging  their  duties,  so  that  the  mass  had  to  be 
omitted.  A  rabble  of  students  and  townsmen  seized  the 
missal  from  the  priest  and  drove  him  from  the  altar. 
The  following  day  a  company  of  students  affixed  a  revo- 
lutionary placard  on  the  door  of  the  Franciscan  church, 
and  they  so  "intimidated  the  poor  monks  that  they  dared 
to  read  only  one  mass  in  the  choir  and  lived  in  fear  of 
seeing  their  monastery  stormed  during  the  night."  This 
rioting  was  finally  stopped  by  the  city  council,  A  more 
potent  influence  came  to  quell  the  tumult.  On  this  very 
day  a  dark  bearded  and  handsomely  equipped  horseman 
alighted  at  the  home  of  Professor  Amsdorf.  He  entered 
the  house  unrecognized.  It  was  Luther.  He  remained  in 
secluded  consultation  with  Melanchthon  and  other  friends 
for  five  days  and  then  quietly  returned  to  the  Wartburg. 
He  immediately  wrote  his  treatise :  "A  True  Warning  to 
All  Christians  to  Guard  Against  Sedition  and  Revolt." 
He  sent  the  manuscript  to  Spalatin  with  the  request  that  it 
be  published  at  once.  His  friend  hesitated  to  do  so  be- 
cause Luther  was  an  outlaw  and  it  did  not  appear  until 
the  spring  of  the  following  year  (1522),  too  late  to  help 
in  checking  the  frenzied  action  that  marked  these  months 
of  violence. 


Rkvoi,ution  In  Wittknbkrc.  121 

The  action  of  the  burghers  in  arresting  the  leaders  in 
the  riot  of  December  third  (1521)  was  resented  by  an 
increasing  number  of  the  citizens.     On  December  ninth 
they  gathered  in  force  and  demanded  not  only  the  re- 
lease of  the  imprisoned  rioters,  but  the  acceptance  by 
the  council  of  a  series  of  articles  that  were  by  no  means 
inflammatory.      They   demanded   freedom   in   preaching 
God's  Word ;   the  abolishment  of  all  compulsory  and  va- 
rious other  masses  and  prayers  for  the  benefit  of  the  dead. 
They  requested  the  admission  of  all  citizens  to  the  Evan- 
gelical  communions,   the   abolition   of  brothels   and  re- 
striction in  tavern  drinking.    The  outcome  of  this  attempt 
to  intimidate  the  council  was  to  cause  the  intervention  of 
the  Elector  and  the  punishment  of  prominent  leaders  in 
the  scenes  that  had  brought  disgrace  on  the  Reformation 
movement  and  caused  Luther  profound  grief  and  even 
dismay.    But  the  excitement  was  not  over.    The  profes- 
sors in  the  university  were  at  loggerheads  and  unable  to 
"come  to  an  agreement  of  doctrine."    The  aged  Elector 
chided  them  for  tlieir  lack  of  unity  and  ordered  that  the 
old  system  continue  in  force  ''until  others  also  take  up  the 
matter."    The  hot-tempered  Carlstadt  paid  no  attention 
to  this  admonition  and  before  the  Elector  was  able  to 
intervene  held  an  Evangelical  communion   service   free 
from  what  he  termed  the  customary  *'froth."    Other  par- 
ish priests  followed  his  example.    All  this  stirred  up  in- 
tense feeling.     It  was  then  the  Zwickau  fanatics  made 
their  appearance  and  Carlstadt  and  ZwilHng  ]ed  the  cru- 
sade that  on  the  eleventh  of  January  (1522)  burned  every 
picture  and  statue  in  the  chapel  of  the  Black  Cloister  and 
on  the  following  day  removed  the  altars.     Melanchthon 
and  other  professors  in  the  university  raised  their  voices 


122  The  Reformation. 

against  this  action  but  it  is  a  significant  testimony  to  the 
popular  feehng  that  a  majority  vote  within  a  few  days 
approved  the  doings  of  Carlstadt  and  his  followers  by  a 
regulation  that  was  made  a  part  of  the  city  statutes. 
These  ordinances  were,  for  the  most  part,  in  line  with 
reforms  that  Luther  had  suggested.  In  one  respect,  how- 
ever, they  directly  opposed  his  views.  It  was  decreed  that 
in  the  eucharist  the  communicants  shall  take  the  bread 
and  the  cup  with  their  own  hands. 

For  a  time  the  ordinance  worked  well.  The  city  was 
freed  from  prostitutes  and  beggars.  Many  of  the  monks 
married  and  made  an  honest  living  as  carpenters,  shoe- 
makers, bakers,  farmers,  and  tradesmen.  The  council 
hesitated  about  removing  the  pictures  and  altars  of  the 
parish  church.  Carlstadt  was  indignant  because  they 
failed  to  act  and  his  sermons  stirred  a  mob  spirit.  On  the 
sixth  of  February  an  excited  crowd  broke  into  the  church 
and  with  ax  and  fire  destroyed  the  beautiful  pictures, 
crowns,  and  crucifixes  they  had  once  adored.  The  ring 
leaders  of  the  mob  were  immediately  arrested  and  word 
was  sent  to  the  Elector. 

The  aged  Duke  had  been  busy  in  moving  his  court  to 
Allstedt  in  Thuringia  and  had  not  kept  in  touch  with 
aflFairs  in  Wittenberg  for  some  weeks.  When  he  learned 
of  the  sacking  of  the  Crown  church  that  he  had  built  and 
enriched  with  gifts,  he  was  deeply  affected.  The  univer- 
sity professors,  Carlstadt,  Jonas,  Melanchthon,  Amsdorf, 
and  Eisermann  were  at  once  summoned  to  meet  him  at 
Eilenburg.  Carlstadt  was  the  main  offender  and  the 
Elector's  wrath  subdued  even  his  high  temper.  Suing 
for  pardon  he  promised  to  refrain  from  preaching  any 
more  incendiary  sermons. 


Luthkr's  Return  to  Wittenbi'Iu;.  123 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Elector,  nearly  all  the 
ground  that  had  been  gained  previous  to  the  outbreaks, 
under  the  leadership  of  Carlstadt  and  Zwilling,  was  in 
danger  of  being  lost.  The  Wittenberg  counsellors,  as  they 
came  to  their  senses,  realized  that  only  one  man  could 
save  the  situation.  Without  consulting  with  the  Elector, 
a  swift  messenger  was  dispatched  to  the  Wartburg,  bear- 
ing an  urgent  request  to  Luther,  that  he  return  to  Witten- 
berg immediately.  Since  his  clandestine  visit  to  the  city 
in  December  he  had  known  but  little  of  what  was  taking 
place.  As  he  read  the  message  of  the  Council,  with  its 
unwelcome  and  unexpected  tidings,  his  first  thought  was 
that  a  sharp  letter  of  reprimand  would  be  sufficient.  As 
he  wrote,  the  conviction  deepened,  that  it  was  his  duty 
to  give  personal  attention  and  leadership  in  the  matter. 
He  at  once  sent  a  letter  to  the  Elector  telling  him  of  his 
decision.  A  reply  came  back  from  his  solicitous  friend 
saying  that  in  his  opinion  the  Doctor  must  not  *'for  the 
present  by  no  means  betake  himself  to  Wittenberg." 
But  Luther's  mind  was  made  up.  His  place  from  this 
time  forward  was  at  the  front  of  the  battle  line.  In  a 
now  famous  letter  to  his  beloved  friend  and  royal  pro- 
tector he  states  the  conditions  that  compel  the  decision  to 
leave  the  refuge  in  which  he  had  been  sheltered  by  the 
kindness  of  the  Elector.  Knowing  full  well  that  Rome 
was  ready  to  seize  him  as  an  outlaw  he  begs  his  aged 
friend  not  to  give  him  further  aid  but  to  act  in  accord 
with  his  sense  of  duty  even  if  he  were  ordered  to  "ap- 
prehend and  kill  him." 

On  the  ninth  of  March  Luther  stood  once  more  in  the 
pulpit  of  the  parish  church  upon  whose  doors  years  be- 
fore he  had  nailed  his  protest  against  indulgences.    As  he 


124  1'i^E  Rkforimation. 

stood  before  the  crowded  congregation  in  the  black  robe 
of  the  Augustinians  they  might  well  have  felt  that  another 
Elijah  had  reappeared  to  utter  a  message  of  prophetic  de- 
nunciation and  warning.  For  a  week  the  most  eloquent 
voice  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  each  day  proclaimed  such 
a  message  that  ''there  was  great  gladness  and  jubilation 
among  the  learned  and  simple  over  his  arrival  and  preach- 
ing." The  spirit  of  unrest  and  disorder  was  quelled  and 
the  reins  of  leadership  fell  from  the  unwilling  hands  of 
Carlstadt.  Zwilling  confessed  that  "he  had  erred  and 
gone  too  far/*  With  statesmanlike  ability  Luther  wisely 
conserved  many  of  the  innovations  that  had  been  made 
during  his  absence,  and  so  guided  affairs  that  the  way 
was  prepared  in  due  time  for  further  reforms. 

The  Bohemian  prophets  came  to  see  Luther.  At  first 
he  was  impressed  by  their  fanatical  zeal,  but  warned  them 
to  take  heed  lest  their  inspiration  should  come  from 
spirits  of  evil.  At  this  suggestion  one  of  the  prophets 
with  intense  excitement  of.  voice  and  gesticulation  ex- 
claimed, "That  thou  mayest  know,  O  Luther,  that  I  am 
inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  I  will  tell  thee  what  is  pass- 
ing in  thy  mind,"  and  solemnly  added :  "It  is  that  thou 
art  ready  to  think  that  my  doctrine  is  true."  Luther  de- 
tecting quickly  the  sham  of  this  reply,  sternly  answered  : 
"The  Lord  rebuke  thee,  Satan ;  the  God  whom  I  worship 
will  soon  put  a  stop  to  your  spirits." 


CHAPTER  Xlll. 

The:  Peasants'  War,  1522-1525. 

Two  months  before  Luther  returned  to  Wittenberg 
Leo  X.  had  been  succeeded  by  Adrian  VL  A  man  of 
devout  spirit  he  mourned  over  that  ''corruption  which  had 
spread  from  the  head  to  the  members."  He  had  no  sym- 
pathy with  Luther  or  his  followers,  but  looked  upon  their 
heresies  as  a  judgment  of  God  on  the  sins  of  the  monks 
and  ecclesiastical  leaders.  The  Diet  which  was  held  in 
Nuremberg  (1522- 1525)  refused  to  enforce  the  edict  of 
Worms  and  urged  the  calling  of  a  Council  to  consider  the 
whole  situation.  While  expressing  approval  of  the  list  of 
abuses  submitted  at  the  Diet  of  Worms,  they  ordered 
that  the  books  of  Luther  should  no  longer  be  printed  and 
his  voice  hushed.  Repudiating  Luther's  leadership  they 
still  declined  to  take  active  measures  to  suppress  the  doc- 
trines that  had  taken  such  deep  root.  Worn  out  with 
anxiety  and  the  effort  he  had  made  to  stay  the  progress  of 
heresy  and  secure  reforms  within  the  Church,  Adrian 
died  and  was  succeeded  by  Clement  VH.,  a  man  of  the 
type  of  Leo. 

Clement  at  once  dispatched  Campeggio,  an  able  Italian 
diplomat,  to  represent  his  demands  at  the  Diet  held  at 
Speyer  in  1526.  The  ambassador  of  Rome  quickly  dis- 
covered when  he  entered  Germany  that  he  was  in  a  hos- 
tile country.  Street  crowds  jeered  him,  and  shouted  the 
name  of  the  Pope  as  Antichrist,  and  the  churches  were 
crowded  with  communicants  who  partook  of  the  Sacra- 
ment of  the  Supper  in  both  kinds.    It  was  a  difficult  situ- 

125 


126  The:  Reformation. 

ation  but  the  wily  diplomat  noted  indications  of  the  weak- 
ening of  the  Lutheran  movement  in  certain  directions. 
The  war  that  crushed  the  revolution  led  by  Franz  von 
Sickingen  had  placed  an  undue  burden  of  taxation  upon 
the  cities  and  their  wealthy  capitalists.  Fretting  under 
this  grievance  they  had  entered  into  a  secret  alliance  with 
the  Emperor  to  overthrow  the  central  government.  Cam- 
peggio  took  such  advantage  as  he  could  of  the  quarrels 
growing  out  of  these  and  other  disturbances  in  the  con- 
duct of  civil  affairs.  He  gained  the  support  of  Ferdinand, 
duke  of  Austria,  the  two  dukes  of  Bavaria,  the  arch- 
bishops of  Salzburg  and  Trent,  and  the  bishops  of  sev- 
eral influential  dioceses.  They  promised  to  unite  in  ef- 
forts to  eradicate  the  Lutheran  heresy  on  condition  that 
needed  reforms  should  be  inaugurated.  The  scandalous 
system  of  clerical  tithes  was  to  be  abolished;  the  abuse 
of  indulgences  stopped;  and  the  number  of  holidays  re- 
duced. The  states  in  the  Catholic  League  were  to  retain 
for  their  own  uses  one-fifth  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenue ; 
only  authorized  preachers  were  to  be  tolerated  and  their 
teachings  must  be  in  accord  with  the  early  Fathers  of 
the  Church.  The  future  history  of  the  Reformation  was 
deeply  affected  by  this  agreement.  Austria,  Bavaria,  and 
the  great  ecclesiastical  states  of  South  Germany  arrayed 
themselves  on  the  side  of  the  Pope  and  have  ever  re- 
mained faithful  to  Rome.  Historians  have  noted  that 
Campeggio  in  his  diplomatic  yielding  to  the  demands  of 
the  German  princes  and  ecclesiastics  started  effective  re- 
forms within  the  old  Church.  A  German  Bible  with 
other  literature  was  published  in  the  interest  of  a  move- 
ment that  became  widespread  and  helpful  in  restraining 
corrupt   influences   and   practices.      North   Germany  re- 


Thk  Breaking  oi'  the;  Storm.  127 

mained  steadfast  in  her  loyalty  to  Lutheran  doctrine  and 
ecclesiastical  reforms. 

Thd  Peasants'  War. 

The  return  of  Luther  from  the  Wartburg  brought  quiet 
and  peace  to  Wittenberg.  The  Zwickau  prophets  left  the 
city  to  proclaim  their  fanatical  message  elsewhere. 
Thomas  Munzer  came  to  leadership  as  the  eloquent 
spokesman  of  the  oppressed  peasantry.  Unlike  Storch, 
the  artisan  prophet,  he  was  a  man  of  university  and  cler- 
ical training.  Restless  in  disposition  he  preached  for  a 
time  in  Zwickau,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  the 
artisan  group  of  "prophets"  whose  fierce  attacks  on  the 
monks  and  the  Church  stirred  the  city.  Driven  from 
Zwickau,  he  journeyed  to  Prague,  where  he  gained  a 
large  following.  Compelled  at  length  to  leave  the  city 
he  found  refuge  in  Allstedt,  where  he  was  appointed 
preacher  at  the  Church  of  St.  John,  and  secured  many 
changes  in  the  order  of  services.  His  violent  spirit  met 
the  stern  rebuke  of  Luther  and  Munzer  became  the  bit- 
ter enemy  of  the  Wittenberg  reformer.  In  his  erratic 
career  and  propagandist  labors  in  Allstedt,  Muhlhausen, 
and  South  Germany  he  was  the  chief  instigator  of  the 
socialistic  revolution  that  broke  out  in  what  is  known  as 
the  "Peasants'  War." 

In  its  origin  this  conflict  was  "a  revolt  against  feudal 
oppression,  it  became,  under  the  leadership  of  Munzer, 
a  war  against  all  constituted  authorities,  and  an  attempt 
to  establish  by  force  his  ideal  Christian  commonwealth, 
with  absolute  equality  and  community  of  goods."  We 
must  not  altogether  condemn  Munzer  and  the  movement 
with  which  his  name  is  identified  without  looking  into  the 


128  The  Reformation. 

conditions  that  brought  about  the  revolt  that  dismayed 
Luther  and  received  a  condemnation  at  his  hand  that  in 
its  justice  may  well  be  questioned  in  days  when  most  of 
the  principles  for  which  Munzer  contended  are  founda- 
tion stones  upon  which  rest  the  fabric  of  our  democratic 
and  republican  institutions.  Revolutions  can  only  be 
understood  as  we  trace  them  back  to  their  sources.  The 
peasantry  that  gathered  with  their  joyous  shouts  about 
the  wagon  that  conveyed  Luther  to  the  Diet  at  Worms, 
and  the  knights  who  escorted  him  in  proud  array,  were 
alike  bitter  in  their  feeling  toward  Rome  and  the  im- 
perial power  that  they  believed  was  seeking  to  crush  out 
every  right  of  personal  liberty  they  possessed. 

Not  far  from  Worms  was  the  castle  of  Ebernberg,  the 
home  of  Franz  von  Sickingen,  a  leader  among  the 
knights  of  Germany.  Although,  after  the  manner  of  the 
times,  he  had  bargained  on  terms  of  hire  to  fight  with  his 
soldiers  at  the  command  of  the  Emperor  he  was  a  val- 
iant supporter  of  Luther.  One  of  his  close  friends  was 
Ulrich  von  Hutten,  a  knight  of  the  pen.  Keen  of  \vit,  and 
a  scholar  of  ripe  proficiency,  Hutten  became  the  virile 
enemy  of  Rome  and  papal  abuses.  His  German  songs 
woke  the  echoes  of  forest  glades  and  palace  firesides. 
The  burden  of  their  cry  was  '^Germany  must  abandon 
Rome.  Liberty  forever.  The  die  is  cast."  At  the  Diet 
of  Worms  these  knights  of  the  lance  and  of  the  pen 
were  foremost  figures  in  the  crowd  that  followed  Luther 
with  their  plaudits. 

When  the  edict  went  forth  that  outlawed  the  monk  of 
Wittenberg  they  numbered  themselves  among  those  who 
were  marked  for  destruction  by  the  allied  power  of  the 
Emperor  and  the  Pope.    The  council  of  regency  of  which 


The  Defeat  and  Death  of  Sickingen.         129 

Frederic  of  Saxony  was  the  head,  proved  a  weak  and 
powerless  instmmentality.  Franz  von  Sickingen  and 
many  of  his  brother  knights  looked  upon  it  as  a  means 
through  which  the  princes  hoped  to  lessen  the  influence 
of  their  order.  Sickingen  led  his  forces  in  a  private  war 
(1522-23)  against  the  archbishop  of  Treves.  The  battle- 
cry  of  these  fifteen  hundred  knights  and  five  thousand 
foot  soldiers  was,  "Freedom  from  the  Pope  and  priests 
and  the  punishment  of  the  archbishop  for  sins  committed 
against  God  and  the  Emperor."  Fighting  against  an  army 
gathered  by  neighboring  princes,  and  much  larger  than 
his  own,  he  retired  within  the  fortress  of  his  castle  at 
Landshut.  For  months  he  held  the  castle  until  a  breach 
was  made  in  its  walls.  Wounded  and  dying  the  brave 
knight  gave  this  message  to  his  conquerors :  "I  am  going 
to  render  an  account  to  a  greater  than  the  Emperor."  His 
friend  Hutten  died  the  same  year.  As  the  peasant  sol- 
diers who  had  fought  under  their  banner  scattered  to 
their  homes  they  remembered  the  songs  of  Hutten,  and 
saw  the  lance  of  Sickingen  flashing  in  the  light  of  mem- 
orable hours  of  siege  and  conf-lct.  Carlstadt  and  Munzer 
were  journeying  from  city  to  city  with  their  fiery  message 
and  Joss  Fritz  was  secretly  working  in  Swabia.  The 
years  of  feudal  slavery  had  laid  unendurable  burdens 
upon  the  toilers  in  field,  and  forest,  and  shop.  The  voice 
of  Luther  and  the  ring  of  his  hammer  on  the  Palace 
church  doors  at  Wittenberg  had  wakened  hope  in  the 
hearts  of  these  drawers  of  water  and  hewers  of  wood 
who  had  learned  in  the  school  of  bitter  experience  to  hate 
Rome  and  the  dissolute  priests  and  monks  whose  exac- 
tions crushed  them  to  the  earth.  When  Rome  exulted  in 
the  alliance  that  had  linked  the  youthful  emperor  in  plans 
9 


130  The  Rkformation. 

that  made  Luther  an  outlaw  and  removed  him  from  ac- 
tive leadership,  these  men  of  lowly  birth  but  vigorous 
strength  were  ripe  for  the  seed  sowing  of  brave  knights 
and  the  wild  prophets  of  Zwickau. 

A  slight  incident  started  the  insurrection.  The  peas- 
ants on  the  estate  of  Count  von  Lupfen  in  Swabia  were 
enjoying  a  holiday  when  orders  came  from  the  castle  that 
they  must  at  once  give  up  their  day  of  anticipated  pleas- 
ure and  gather  snail-shells  for  the  guests  at  the  castle. 
The  hate  of  long  smoldering  grievances  burst  inlo  a  flame 
that  quickly  spread  through  the  valleys  of  Swabia.  The 
efforts  of  the  council  of  regency  to  stay  the  insurrection 
proved  fruitless.  The  peasants  demanded  religious  and 
civil  freedom.  Among  these  demands  were  the  privilege 
of  choosing  their  pastors ;  exemption  from  the  payment 
of  certain  tithes ;  the  right  to  hunt  and  gather  fire  wood 
in  the  forests ;  payment  of  wages  for  special  services ;  the 
readjustment  of  rents  ;  the  common  use  of  common  land ; 
the  doing  away  of  "death  gifts"  by  which  the  choicest 
chattel  of  a  deceased  tenant  became  the  property  of  the 
land  owners.  Surely  these  were  reasonable  demands  but 
their  granting  would  have  made  the  peasants  free  men 
and  this  the  proud  feudal  lords  would  not  permit.  The 
revolution  spread  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  Swabia.  The 
wretched  peasants  were  no  match  for  the  trained  soldiers 
of  their  over  lords.  Thousands  were  slain  but  the  work 
of  death  did  not  stop.  In  the  valley  of  the  Necker  and 
Maine  the  peasants  destroyed  scores  of  castles  and  mon- 
asteries. The  artisans  in  the  towns  where  Carlstadt  and 
others  had  preached  joined  in  the  revolt.  Sweeping 
changes  were  made  in  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs. 
Munzer  became  the  recognized  head  of  the  revolutionary 


The  Proclamation  of  Munzer.  131 

forces.  The  fiery  words  of  his  proclamation  aroused  the 
miners  of  Mansfield  and  swept  through  the  region  where 
the  name  and  work  of  Luther  was  best  known.  ''Arise ! 
fight  the  battle  of  the  Lord !  On  !  on  !  on  !  Now  is  the 
time:  the  wicked  tremble  when  they  hear  of  you.  Be 
pitiless  !  Heed  not  the  groans  of  the  impious  !  Rouse  up 
the  towns  and  villages;  above  all  rouse  up  the  miners 
of  the  miountains  !  On  !  on !  on !  while  the  fire  is  burn- 
ing; on  while  the  hot  sword  is  yet  reeking  with  the 
slaughter !  Give  the  fire  no  time  to  go  out,  the  sword  no 
time  to  cool !  kill  all  the  proud  ones ;  while  one  of  them 
lives  you  will  not  be  free  from  the  fear  of  man!  While 
they  reign  over  you  it  is  no  use  to  talk  of  God !  *  *  * 
Amen." 

Such  was  the  proclamation  "Given  at  Miihlhausen, 
1525/'  and  signed  "Thomas  Miinzer,  servant  of  God 
against  the  wicked."  At  the  final  conflict  five  thousand 
peasants,  artisans  and  miners  lay  dead  upon  the  battle- 
field near  Frankhausen.  Miinzer  fled  but  was  soon  seized, 
imprisoned,  and  finally  beheaded.  It  is  estimated  that  at 
least  one  hundred  thousand  perished  in  this  revolution 
that  still  left  the  wretched  peasantry  the  victims  of  feudal 
slavery.  In  these  days  of  tumult  and  blood  Luther  sided 
with  the  nobility.  He  did  all  that  he  could  to  encourage 
the  princes  to  crush  the  rebellion.  But  was  he  altogether 
right  in  his  bitter  denunciation  of  Carlstadt  and  Miinzer? 
Was  his  harsh  treatment  of  the  peasantry,  who  looked 
to  him  for  help,  altogether  excusable?  "It  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  to  some  extent  this  revolution  had  groAvn  from 
the  dragon's  teeth  that  Luther  himself  had  sown.  There 
was  a  time  when  he  himself  had  used  wild  language  and 
done  wild  deeds.    Erasmus  had  predicted  that  all  Europe 


132  The  Reformation. 

would  be  turned  upside  down  in  a  universal  revolution ; 
and  had  it  not  come  to  pass?  The  monks  blamed  Eras- 
mus and  the  new  learning ;  Erasmus  blamed  the  wildness 
of  Luther;  Luther  blamed  the  wilder  prophets.  Who 
was  to  blame?  History  will  not  lay  blame  on  Erasmus 
or  Luther,  or  on  the  wilder  prophets,  or  on  the  misguided 
peasantry,  but  on  the  higher  powers  whose  place  it  was  to 
have  averted  revolution  by  timely  reforms.  It  was  their 
refusal  of  reform  which  was  the  real  cause  of  revolution. 
It  was  the  conspiracy  of  the  higher  powers  at  the  Diet 
of  Worms  to  sacrifice  the  common  weal  to  their  own  am- 
bitious objects  on  which  history  will  lay  the  blame  of  the 
Peasants'  War."^ 

The  fact  that  Luther  denounced  Carlstadt  and  Miinzer 
in  such  unmeasured  terms  ought  not  to  prejudice  us  in 
the  study  of  a  revolution  that  he  did  so  much  to  bring 
about  even  if  without  intent  on  his  part.  The  reforms 
for  which  these  men  pled  are  now  conceded  principles  of 
a  free  democracy  in  Church  and  State.  Regret  as  we 
may  the  excesses  that  attend  all  insurrectionary  move- 
ments, the  door  opens  wider  as  the  years  go  by  that  ad- 
mits Carlstadt  and  Miinzer  to  a  place  in  history  by  the 
side  of  the  brave  spirits  who  again  and  again  have  led 
"forlorn  hopes"  in  conflicts  whose  sacrificial  defeats  have 
opened  the  way  for  final  victories.  The  position  taken 
by  Luther  no  doubt  aided  in  the  suppression  of  this  dis- 
astrous insurrection,  but  those  who  sympathize  with 
the  oppressed  and  love  freedom  can  but  regret  the  words 
he  uttered  and  the  part  he  played  in  these  trying  days. 
His  spirit  was  strangely  unlike  that  of  the  noble  Elector 

iSeebohm.    Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,  p.  153. 


Thi?  Proclamation  of  Munzer.  133 

Frederic  of  Saxony.  The  revolution  was  culminating 
in  its  force  when  he  lay  dying  in  his  palace  home.  In  a 
letter  to  his  brother  Duke  John,  who  was  with  the  army, 
he  counseled  him  to  deal  leniently  with  the  misguided 
peasantry.  "Dear  children,"  was  his  last  message,  "if  I 
have  offended  any  of  you,  forgive  me,  for  the  love  of 
God ;  we  princes  do  many  things  to  the  poor  people  that 
we  ought  not  to  do." 

The  Peasants'  War,  without  doubt  retarded  the  Refor- 
mation movement  in  Germany.  Luther  and  his  adherents 
lost  to  a  considerable  extent  their  hold  on  the  people.  The 
conduct  of  affairs  was  again  in  the  hands  of  the  princes 
and  the  Reformation  as  a  national  movement  was 
checked.  But  Luther  w^as  wise  and  had  a  statesman's 
outlook  of  a  perilous  situation.  The  Reformation  in 
Germany  was  saved  by  his  action  in  cutting  it  loose  from 
the  revolutionary  forces  it  had  encouraged. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Ihm  AT  Speyer.    Origin  of  the  Tkrm  "Protestant," 
1526-1555. 

The  princes  favoring  the  Roman  Church  flushed  with 
victories  that  had  suppressed  the  revolt  of  their  feudal 
subjects,  gave  orders  that  brought  sorrow  and  death  into 
multitudes  of  humble  homes.  In  South  Germany  reli-- 
gious  persecution  was  rampant.  Lutheran  laymen  and 
ministers  were  condemned,  not  on  the  ground  of  having 
participated  in  the  social  revolution,  but  because  of  their 
adherence  to  heretical  doctrines  and  teachers.  Forty  Lu- 
theran pastors  were  hung  by  the  roadside  in  one  small 
district. 

The  Roman  Catholic  princes  and  the  Protestant  princes 
drew  closer  together  in  mutually  protective  alliances.  In 
this  attitude  they  faced  each  other  in  the  Diet  held  in 
1526.  The  brother  of  Charles  V.,  Ferdinand  of  Austria, 
presided  over  its  sessions.  The  time  seemed  opportune 
to  the  Roman  Catholic  partisans  to  crush  the  hated  Lu- 
therans. The  Emperor  had  taken  the  French  king  cap- 
tive at  the  battle  of  Pavia,  and  in  the  terms  that  set  him 
free,  he  was  bound  to  aid  Charles  in  his  war  against  all 
heretics.  But  heresy  would  not  down.  The  discussions 
in  the  council  chamber  at  Speyer  gave  brave  and  eloquent 
expression  to  the  German  hostility  to  Rome.  The  evils 
and  corrupt  doings  of  the  Curia  were  reopened.  The 
Peasants'  War  was  shown  to  be  a  social  revolution  that 
had  been  primarily  instigated  by  the  exactions  laid  upon 
the  peasantry  by  clerical  landholders,  and  not  from  the 
teaching  of  Luther. 

134 


The  Diet  of  Speyer.  135 

Ferdinand,  acting  on  instructions  from  the  Emperor, 
demanded  the  enforcement  of  the  Edict  of  Worms  and 
a  decree  that  would  stop  all  innovations  in  worship  and 
doctrine.  If  these  demands  were  granted  he  promised,  in 
behalf  of  his  brother,  that  his  influence  would  be  used  to 
secure  the  calling  of  a  General  Council  to  consider  and 
settle  the  doctrinal  and  ritual  questions  that  had  been  the 
source  of  so  much  trouble.  Protestant  sentiment  was 
represented  by  a  majority  of  those  attending  the  Diet. 
The  Lutheran  princes  were  by  no  means  ready  to  accede 
to  the  demands  laid  down  by  Ferdinand.  It  was  quite 
impossible,  they  said,  to  enforce  the  Edict  of  Worms. 
A  compromise  was  suggested  that  granted  almost  all  the 
changes  favored  by  Luther  and  his  adherents.  A  reso- 
lution was  finally  adopted  that  "the  word  of  God  should 
be  preached  without  disturbance,"  an  indemnity  provided 
for  past  offenses  and  until  the  meeting  of  the  pro- 
posed General  Council,  "each  State  should  so  live  as  it 
hoped  to  answer  for  its  conduct  to  God  and  to  the  Em- 
peror." Very  reluctantly  the  Roman  Catholic  party  ac- 
quiesced in  this  decision.  No  doubt  the  fact  that  Charles 
at  this  time  was  in  open  conflict  with  the  Pope  made  him 
anxious  to  avoid  trouble  in  Germany.  As  matters  stood  he 
could  use  the  Lutherans  as  a  club  in  his  fight  with  Rome. 
Naturally  the  Protestant  states  and  cities  felt  that  the  de- 
cision of  the  Diet  gave  them  the  right  to  organize  terri- 
torial Churches  and  make  such  changes  in  public  worship 
as  they  deemed  best.  It  was  an  hour  of  hope  for  the 
Reformation.  Within  three  years  nearly  all  of  North 
Germany  accepted  the  Lutheran  faith. 

Soon  after  the  Diet  adjourned  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent of  the  Protestant  princes,   Philip  of  Hesse,  com- 


136  The:  Re:^ormation. 

mitted  a  most  unfortunate  political  blunder.  Philip  be- 
came obsessed  with  the  belief  that  the  Romanist  princes 
were  laying  plans  to  attack  the  Lutherans  and  partition 
their  territory.  An  under  official,  who  proved  to  be  a 
worthless  knave,  gained  the  ear  of  Philip  and  told  him 
he  had  knowledge  of  a  treaty  that  sustained  all  of  his 
suspicions.  This  document  was  secured  at  a  cost  of  4,ocmd 
gulden.  Philip  hastened  to  place  the  copy  of  the  treaty 
in  the  hands  of  Luther  and  the  Elector  of  Saxony.  They 
believed  that  it  was  a  genuine  statement  but  refused  to 
aid  in  a  plan  to  secure  assistance  outside  of  Germany. 
Philip  persisted  in  his  efforts  until,  to  his  consternation 
and  that  of  his  friends,  the  document  for  which  he  had 
paid  so  generously,  was  proved  to  be  a  forgery.  The 
unhappy  incident  divided  the  Lutherans  and  proved  a 
weapon  in  the  hands  of  their  enemies. 

In  the  Diet  at  Speyer  in  1529  the  Roman  Catholic 
party  was  in  control.  The  representatives  of  the  Em- 
peror declared  the  clause  in  the  ordinance  of  1526,  null 
and  void,  that  the  Lutherans  had  made  the  basis  of  action 
in  organizing  territorial  Churches.  The  Diet  declared 
that  Lutheran  polity  and  doctrine  would  not  be  tolerated 
in  Romanist  districts,  and  in  those  states  that  had  de- 
parted from  the  Edict  of  Worms ;  that  no  one  was  to  be 
prevented  from  attending  mass,  and  that  those  sects  that 
denied  the  sacrament  of  the  true  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  should  have  like  treatment  with  Anabaptists.  In 
addition  the  Diet  declared  that  no  ecclesiastical  body 
should  be  deprived  of  its  revenues  and  authority.  This 
act  in  its  enforcement  sought  to  make  it  impossible  to  or- 
ganize Lutheran  Churches,  for  it  restored  the  right  of 


The  Dikt  of  SpEye:r.  137 

Roman  Catholic  bishops  to  deal  with  all  ministers  within 
their  diocese. 

Origin  of  the:  Te:rm  "Protkstant." 

The  decision  that  so  completely  reversed  the  action  taken 
three  years  before,  led  to  the  famous  ''Protest"  from 
which  is  dated  the  use  of  the  name  ''Protestant."  Re- 
fusing any  concessions  to  the  Lutheran  party  they  brought 
forward  the  protest  that  was  read  at  the  session  of  the 
Diet,  April  19,  1529.  In  order  to  meet  the  obstructions 
placed  in  the  way  of  its  publication,  a  legal  instrument 
was  drafted  in  which  the  "Protest"  was  embodied  with 
other  documents.  The  Protestants  declared  that  they 
should  abide  by  the  declarations  made  in  1526.  When 
forced  to  make  their  choice  between  obedience  to  God  and 
the  Emperor  they  could  not  hesitate  as  to  their  action. 
From  the  decisions  of  the  Diet  they  appealed  to  the  Em- 
peror and  the  next  General  Council  of  Christendom,  or  an 
ecclesiastical  congress  of  the  German  nation.  This  docu- 
ment was  signed  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  Margrave 
George  of  Brandenburg,  Dukes  Ernest  and  Francis  of 
Brunswick-Liineburg,  Landgrave  Philip  of  Hesse,  and 
Prince  Wolfgang  of  Anhalt.  Fourteen  cities,  some  of 
them  Zwinglian  in  their  affiliation,  united  in  this  solemn 
"Protest"  against  the  action  of  the  Roman  Catholic  party. 
They  contended  for  an  ancient  principle  that  permitted 
a  minority  of  German  States  when  oppressed  by  a  ma- 
jority to  seek  reHef  in  the  laws  of  the  Empire.  Those 
who  signed  this  appeal  were  called  Protestants,  and  this 
name  was  generally  given  to  all  who  rejected  the  su- 
premacy of  the  pope ;  discarded  the  Roman  conception  of 
the  position  of  the  clergy  and  the  doctrine  of  the  mass; 


13B  Ths  Reformation. 

and  rejected  sundry  practices  of  the  Church  "without, 
however,  repudiating  the  Catholic  creeds." 

The  reform  party  in  South  Germany  came  under  the 
influence  of  the  movement  in  Switzerland,  led  by  Ulrich 
Zwingli,  who  claimed  that  he  had  preached  the  doctrines 
of  the  Reformation  as  early  as  15 16,  "before  any  one  in 
my  locality  had  so  much  as  heard  the  name  of  Luther." 
In  1 5 19  Zwingli  began  to  denounce  the  scandals  of  the 
Roman  Court  from  the  pulpit  of  the  cathedral  of  Zurich. 
In  1523  he  issued  a  statement  of  his  behefs  in  which  he 
maintained  that  the  Church  was  not  the  source  of  au- 
thority and  Christ  was  the  only  high  priest.  His  views 
in  regard  to  purgatory  and  other  matters  were  in  accord 
with  those  of  Luther.  The  town  council  ratified  his  posi- 
tion and  Zurich  was  no  longer  under  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Roman  Church.  Within  a  few  months  drastic  changes 
were  made.  Shrines  were  opened  and  relics  were  burned, 
and  images  were  removed  from  churches  where  the  mass 
was  no  longer  observed.  A  league  was  formed  in  1525-26 
— Constance  and  other  Swiss  cantons  were  allied  with 
Zurich.  This  league  in  its  active  opposition  to  the  house 
of  Hapsburg  represented  a  principle  that  Luther  strongly 
opposed.  He  did  not  deem  it  right  to  combine  religious 
and  political  reform.  His  attitude  was  that  of  a  jealous 
defender  of  the  rights  of  princes.  This  line  of  cleavage 
between  the  opinions  of  Luther  and  Zwingli  was  made 
much  broader  and  deeper  by  their  different  interpreta- 
tions of  the  eucharist. 

Philip  of  Hesse  was  the  political  statesman  among  the 
German  princes  who  supported  the  Reformation.  He 
saw  the  need  of  unity  among  all  the  forces  that  were  op- 
posed to  Rome  and  deplored  the  theological  differences 


The  Diet  of  Speyer.  139 

that  more  and  more  threatened  to  separate  these  forces 
into  hostile  factions.  He  determined  to  bring  the  leaders 
together  in  a  conference  at  his  castle  at  Marburg.  The 
invitation  of  Philip  met  a  quick  response  from  Zwingli. 
Luther  had  become  prejudiced  against  the  Swiss  reformer 
and  hesitated,  as  did  Melanchthon,  about  meeting  him  at 
Marburg.  These  two  great  leaders  were  utterly  unlike 
in  temperament  and  training.  Zwingli,  from  his  youth 
up,  had  drank  deep  at  the  fountains  opened  by  the  New 
Learning.  Under  the  guidance  of  an  uncle  who  was  the 
parish  priest  of  Wildhaus,  he  studied  the  masterpieces  of 
classical  literature.  Coming  later  under  the  teaching  of 
Thomas  Wyttenbach,  he  caught  the  spirit  of  reform  as  it 
was  then  urged  both  by  Luther  and  Erasmus.  A  thought- 
ful student  of  the  writings  of  the  earlier  Church  Fathers, 
he  gave  little  attention  to  the  works  of  the  schoolmen. 
The  social  as  well  as  ecclesiastical  environment  of  Zwingli 
was  entirely  different  from  that  of  Luther.  From  boy- 
hood he  breathed  the  free  air  of  Switzerland;  a  land 
that  had  never  felt  the  iron  hand  of  Rome  laid  heavily 
upon  it ;  a  land  where  the  cities  were  little  republics,  and 
asserted  their  right  of  supremacy  in  ecclesiastical  as  well 
as  political  affairs.  Zwingli  was  not  afraid  to  mix  in 
political  as  well  as  religious  affairs,  and  held  that  the 
Reformation  was  to  be  helped  and  advanced  by  political 
policies.  All  this  was  very  obnoxious  to  Luther.  He 
had  long  since  broken  with  Erasmus  and  feared  the 
rationalistic  tendencies  of  humanistic  culture.  The  views 
expressed  by  the  Swiss  Reformer  regarding  the  eucharist 
seemed  to  him  loose  and  unscriptural. 

Melanchthon  was  in  full  accord  with  Luther  in  his  feel- 
ing towards  Zwingli.    He  feared  that  his  political  activi- 


140  Thk  Reformation. 

ties  would  be  a  source  of  trouble.  The  Protest,  made  at 
Speyer  under  the  joint  signatures  of  Lutheran  and  Swiss 
reformers,  troubled  him.  He  dreaded  the  influence  it 
might  have  on  the  Emperor.  Was  it  right,  he  asked,  for 
subjects  to  defend  themselves  against  the  civil  power  or- 
dained of  God?  "My  conscience,"  wrote  the  gentle- 
hearted  theologian,  ''is  disquieted  because  of  this  thing; 
I  am  half  dead  with  thinking  about  it."  Luther  learned 
w^ith  regret  of  the  protest  made  at  Speyer,  and  this  was 
an  added  reason  why  he  hesitated  to  accept  the  invitation 
to  the  conference  at  Marburg.  But  Philip  was  persistent 
and  the  Wittenberg  leaders  sat  on  one  side  of  the  table 
in  the  castle  room  where  the  "Colloquy"  opened  October 

30.  1529- 

The  Marburg  Colloquy,  while  it  failed  to  unite  the  re- 
forming parties  as  Philip  of  Hesse  had  hoped,  disclosed 
that  they  were  in  essential  harmony  as  regarded  doctrine, 
with  one  exception.  That  difference  was  an  entrance 
wedge  that  produced  the  cleavage  from  which  we  may 
date  the  separate  lines  upon  which  the  Lutheran  and  Re- 
formed Churches  of  Europe  and  America  have  developed. 
Both  Luther  and  Zwingli  "found  in  the  medieval  doctrine 
of  the  Sacrament  of  the  Supper  what  they  believed  to 
be  an  overwhelming  error  destructive  to  the  spiritual  life. 
It  presupposed  that  a  priest,  in  virtue  of  mysterious 
powers  conferred  in  ordination,  could  give  or  withhold 
from  the  Christian  people  the  benefits  conveyed  in  the 
Sacrament.  It  asserted  that  the  priest  could  change  the 
elements  Bread  and  Wine  into  the  very  Body  and  Blood 
of  Christ,  and  that  unless  this  change  was  made  there 
was  no  presence  of  Christ  in  the  sacrament,  and  no  pos- 
sibility of  sacramental  grace  for  the  communicant. 
Luther  attacked  the  problem  as  a  medieval  Christian,  con- 


The  Marburg  Confkrknce:.  141 

tent,  if  he  was  able  to  purge  the  ordinance  of  this  one 
fault,  to  leave  all  else  as  he  found  it.  Zwingli  came  as  a 
Humanist,  whose  fundamental  rule  was  to  get  beyond  the 
medieval  theology  altogether,  and  attempt  to  discover 
how  the  earlier  Church  Fathers  could  aid  him  to  solve 
the  problem.  This  difference  in  mental  attitude  led  them 
to  approach  the  subject  from  separate  sides ;  and  the 
medieval  way  of  looking  at  the  whole  subject  rendered 
difference  of  approach  very  easy.  The  medieval  Church 
had  divided  the  Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper  into 
two  distinct  parts — the  Mass  and  the  Eucharist.  The 
Mass  was  inseparably  connected  with  the  thought  of  the 
great  Sacrifice  of  Christ  upon  the  Cross,  and  the  Eucha- 
rist with  the  thought  of  the  believer's  communion  with 
the  Risen  Living  Christ.  Zwingli  attacked  the  Romanist 
doctrine  of  the  Mass,  and  Luther  sought  to  give  an  evan- 
gelical meaning  to  the  medieval  conception  of  the  Eucha- 
rist. Hence  the  two  Protestant  antagonists  were  never 
exactly  facing  each  other."^ 

That  the  participants  in  the  Marburg  Conference  held 
a  like  faith  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  all  of  them  signed 
fourteen  of  the  fifteen  articles  that  were  submitted.  Alas 
— as  it  seems  to  us — a  difference  of  interpretation,  and 
not  of  faith,  divided  Protestantism  at  this  critical  hour. 
Philip  made  one  more  effort,  but  in  vain,  to  secure  the 
unity  that  he  felt  was  so  necessary.  Luther  might  recog- 
nize Zwingli  as  a  Christian  brother  holding  erroneous 
opinions  but  he  would  not  enter  into  a  compact  with  him 
for  united  action.  Four  centuries  of  theological  strife 
and  division  must  pass  before  the  larger  part  of  Protest- 
antism in  the  United  States  could  clasp  hands  in  the  Fed- 
eral Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 

iLindsay.    History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  T,  pp.  353,  354- 


CHAPTER  XV. 

The  DiKT  01?  Augsburg.    Thu  Augsburg  Coni'Ession. 
The:  Schmalkald  League. 

Charles  V.,  since  the  remarkable  days  when  Luther 
stood  before  him  at  Worms,  had  been  busy  strengthening 
his  imperial  power.  Now  that  he  had  made  vassels, 
both  of  the  French  King  and  the  Pope,  he  found  time  to 
again  visit  Germany  and  look  after  its  heretics.  Well 
aware  of  the  progress  which  the  Lutheran  movement  had 
made  under  the  guidance  of  its  founder  and  his  princely 
adherents,  Charles  wisely  sought  in  a  conciliatory  way  to 
secure  the  ends  that  he  desired. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1530  the  Diet  was  summoned  to 
meet  at  Augsburg.  This  city  was  then  the  great  trading 
centre  between  the  towns  of  Northern  Europe  and  the 
Levant,  and  its  wealthy  citizens  vied  with  each  other  in 
making  sumptuous  preparations  for  the  coming  of  the 
secular  and  ecclesiastical  princes  who  were  to  meet  the 
Emperor.  Charles  and  his  retinue  reached  the  city  gates 
on  the  evening  of  June  15th.  An  incident  in  connection 
with  the  imperial  procession,  that  was  marshalled  in 
proud  and  gorgeous  array,  disclosed  the  temper  of  those 
who  had  charge  of  its  arrangement.  The  Emperor  de- 
sired the  papal  nuncio,  Cardinal  Campeggio,  to  ride  by  his 
side,  but  the  Germans  would  not  allow  it.  No  representa- 
tive of  the  Pope  was  exalted  enough  to  stand  in  close 
proximity  to  the  head  of  the  German  Empire.  In  stately 
array  the  procession  moved  along  the  streets  of  Augs- 
burg and  entered  the  cathedral  whose  walls  echoed  the 
Te  Deum  and  the  Emperor  received  the  benediction. 

142 


The  Diet  of  Augsburg.  143 

As  Charles  retired  to  his  rooms  in  the  bishop's  palace 
he  invited  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  George  of  Branden- 
burg, Philip  of  Hesse,  and  Francis  of  Liineburg  to  meet 
him.  In  this  private  interview  the  Emperor  discovered 
that  he  was  dealing  with  men  who  had  decided  upon  a 
definite  course  of  action.  They  declined  to  accept  his 
decision  that  no  Lutheran  preacher  should  take  part  in  the 
sittings  of  the  Diet.  They  yielded  to  his  suggestion  that 
he  would  appoint  the  preachers  and  that  the  Scriptures 
should  be  read  without  comment.  An  invitation  to  join 
the  Emperor  the  following  day  in  the  Corpus  Christi  pro- 
cession was  refused.  The  brief,  rugged  speech,  with 
which  the  aged  George  of  Brandenburg  met  the  urgent 
request  of  Charles  is  on  record.  "Before  I  would  deny 
my  God  and  His  Evangel,  I  would  rather  kneel  down  here 
before  your  Majesty  and  have  my  head  struck  off."  With 
these  words  he  hit  his  neck  with  the  side  of  his  hand. 

The  sessions  of  the  Diet  opened  on  June  20th.  The 
address  from  the  throne  stated  that  His  Majesty  desired 
"by  fair  and  gentle  means"  to  bring  to  an  end  the  reli- 
gious controversies  in  Germany.  In  accord  with  a  re- 
quest of  the  Emperor  the  Protestant  leaders  had  prepared 
"a  statement  of  their  grievances  and  opinions  relating 
to  faith."  On  June  25th  the  historic  Augsburg  Con- 
fession was  read  by  the  Saxon  Chancellor,  Dr.  Christian 
Bayer,  "in  such  a  clear  resonant  voice  that  it  was  heard 
n®t  only  by  the  audience  within  the  chamber,  but  also  by 
the  crowd  which  thronged  the  court  outside."  The  Ger- 
man princes,  whose  names  were  appended  to  this  docu- 
ment, knew  full  well  that  it  might  prove  their  death  war- 
rant. The  Saxon  theologians  begged  Duke  John  to  allow 
their  names  to  stand  alone.    His  quiet  reply  was,  "I  too. 


144  I'hk  Reformation. 

will  confess  my  Christ."  It  was  not  an  easy  decision  for 
him  to  make.  He  was  very  fond  of  his  nephew  and  he 
recognized  that  in  signing  this  "Confession,"  they  must  be 
irrevocably  separated.  The  story  of  their  parting  inter- 
view has  been  preserved.  "Uncle,  Uncle,"  said  Charles 
to  the  Elector,  "I  did  not  expect  this  of  you."  The  Elec- 
tor's eyes  filled  with  tears  as  he  turned  silently  and  left 
the  room. 

The  Augsburg  Confession  was  drafted  by  the  hand  of 
Melanchthon.  His  conciliatory  spirit,  and  theological 
acumen,  is  discovered  in  every  line  of  this  creed  "which 
has  obtained  more  currency  and  respect  than  any  other 
Protestant  symbol."^  i  The  confession  sought  as  far  as 
possible  to  minimize  the  differences  between  the  Lu- 
therans and  the  old  Church.  It  repudiated  the  radical 
views  of  the  Anabaptists  and  Zwingli.  The  celibacy  of 
the  clergy ;  the  Mass  as  it  was  understood ;  auricular 
confession  and  monastic  vows,  were  vigorously  con- 
demned. "Christian  perfection,"  they  said,  "is  this:  to 
fear  God  sincerely,  to  trust  assuredly  that  we  have,  for 
Christ's  sake,  a  gracious  and  merciful  God ;  to  ask  and 
look  with  confidence  for  help  from  Him  in  all  our  affairs, 
according  to  our  calling,  and  outwardly  to  do  good  works 
diligently,  and  to  attend  to  our  vocation.  In  these  things 
doth  true  perfection  and  a  true  worship  of  God  consist. 
It  doth  not  consist  in  going  about  begging,  or  in  wearing 
a  black  or  a  grey  cowl." 

The  confession  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  a  committee 
of  conservative  theologians.  They  found  it  a  difficult 
task  to  frame  a  response  that  suited  the  Emperor.    Eive 

^Professor  George  P.  Fisher.     The  Reformation,  p.  105. 


The  SCHMAI.KAI.D  League.  145 

different  drafts  were  submitted  before  he  reluctantly  ac- 
cepted the  one  that  was  adopted.  It  made  reconciliation 
hopeless.  The  Lutheran  princes  and  fourteen  cities  pro- 
tested against  the  action  taken  and  left  the  Diet.  The 
final  decisions  compelled  the  enforcement  of  the  Edict  of 
Worms.  The  property  of  the  Church  was  to  be  restored 
and  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Imperial  Court  was  ex- 
tended to  appeals  involving  ecclesiastical  matters  that  ef-- 
fected  the  Protestant  party.  The  time  seemed  opportune 
to  crush  the  Reformation.  The  differences  that  separated 
Protestantism  had  been  disclosed  by  the  action  that  placed 
before  the  Diet  not  only  the  Lutheran  confession  but  one 
sent  by  Zwingli  and  still  another  submitted  by  the  cities 
of  Strassburg,  Constance,  Lindau,  and  Memmingen. 

Luther  meanwhile  was  outlawed  from  attendance  at 
this  memorable  Diet.  By  invitation  of  the  Elector  he 
was  staying  in  his  castle  at  Coburg  and  keeping  in  close 
touch  with  affairs  at  Augsburg.  No  step  was  taken  with- 
out his  knowledge.  It  was  a  trying  time  for  the  great 
reformer  and  we  can  well  imagine  his  distress  over  his 
enforced  absence  from  the  Augsburg  discussions.  He 
feared  especially  that  Melanchthon  would  yield  too  much. 
Bidding  his  dear  friend  to  stand  firm  he  quotes  the  text, 
"Be  ye  angry  and  sin  not."  His  stirring  messages  were 
bugle  blasts  of  encouragement  to  the  Lutheran  forces  that 
faced  Rome  and  the  Emperor  at  Augsburg. 

In  spite  of  Luther's  well  known  opposition  to  any 
interference  with  the  civil  powers  most  of  the  Protestant 
princes  realized  that  only  the  sword  could  save  them  from 
destruction  "root  and  branch.*'  In  November  they 
formed  the  Schmalkald  League,  which,  following  the 
death  of  Zwingli  on  the  battlefield  of  Cappel,  was  joined 
10 


146  The:  Reji^ormation. 

by  several  south  German  towns.  The  day  set  for  re- 
ducing the  Protestants  by  "fire  and  sword"  (April  15, 
1531,)  passed  without  dreaded  bloodshed.  Charles,  just 
then,  had  his  hands  full  in  looking  after  the  Turks,  who 
were  nearing  the  gates  of  Vienna.  The  Pope  had  no  rea- 
son to  love  the  Emperor.  Francis  was  sullenly  waiting 
an  opportunity  to  revenge  his  wrongs,  and  Henry  VIII. 
was  now  the  enemy  of  Charles.  Matters  had  taken  a 
turn  favorable  to  the  Reformation.  The  banished  duke 
of  Wiirtemberg  was  restored  to  his  hereditary  posses- 
sions through  the  influence  of  the  "League,"  and  joined 
the  Protestant  forces,  as  did  the  new  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg and  Henry,  who,  in  1539  succeeded  his  brother 
George  of  Saxony.  The  spread  of  Lutheran  doctrine  into 
Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway  will  have  mention  fur- 
ther on.^ 

Charles  V.,  finding  it  impossible  to  check  the  Refor- 
mation movement  by  force  of  arms,  again  sought  by  con- 
ferences between  Roman  Catholic  and  Lutheran  theo- 
logians to  secure  by  compromise  a  staying  of  the  tide  of 
heresy.  His  efforts  proved  futile.  Charles  was  more 
successful  in  plans  that  disrupted  the  Schmalkald 
League.  On  political  grounds  Philip  of  Hesse  and  young 
Maurice,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  Saxony  electorate, 
were  won  over  to  the  Emperor's  side.  From  the  begin-- 
ning  of  his  reign  he  had  striven  to  bring  about  the  calling 
of  a  general  council.  In  the  face  of  persistent  opposition 
on  the  part  of  the  popes  his  efforts  were  crowned  with 
success  and    the  great  Council  of  Trent  met  in  1545. 

The    Protestants    declined    to    be   represented.      The 

iSee  pages  156-158. 


The  Augsburg  Interim.  147 

Council  was  dominated  by  Dominican  and  Jesuistical  in- 
fluences. The  anathemas  which  it  fulminated  against  the 
Protestants  strengthened  their  convictions  and  widened 
the  breach  that  forever  separated  them  from  Rome  and 
her  hierarchical,  medieval  forms  of  imperial  goverment. 
Maurice  of  Saxony,  in  becoming  the  political  ally  of 
the  Emperor,  did  not  sever  his  connection  with  the  Lu- 
therans. With  the  defeat  of  John  Frederick  at  Miihlberg 
and  the  winning  of  Philip  of  Hesse  to  his  side,  the  Em- 
peror made  another  effort  in  the  interests  of  religious 
unity.  Three  theologians,  one  of  whom  was  a  Lutheran, 
prepared  the  so-called  ''Augsburg  Interim."  While  af- 
firming the  seven  sacraments,  transubstantiation,  the 
headship  of  the  Pope  and  the  invocation  of  saints,  they 
accepted,  in  a  conditional  form,  Luther's  doctrine  of  jus- 
tification by  faith,  modified  the  practice  of  the  Mass  and 
made  possible  the  marriage  of  priests.  Charles  for  four 
years  put  forth  every  effort  to  compel  the  Protestants  to 
observe  the  Interim.  A  feeling  of  intense  hatred  of 
Charles  and  his  use  of  the  Spanish  army  in  enforcing 
his  decrees,  took  possession  of  the  German  people. 
Maurice  of  Saxony  almost  succeeded  in  capturing  him  in 
1552,  At  a  conference  of  the  German  princes  at  Passan, 
Maurice  held  the  place  of  leadership.  At  the  meeting  of 
the  Diet  at  Augsburg  in  1555,  the  peace  was  concluded 
that  legalized  the  Lutheran  faith.  Only  those  who  ac- 
cepted the  Augsburg  Confession  were  included  in  its 
terms.  Zwinglians,  Calvinists,  and  Anabaptists  were  not 
tolerated.  A  secular  ruler  was  permitted  to  choose  be- 
tween the  old  faith  and  the  Lutheran.  His  decision  was 
binding  on  all  his  subjects  in  case  they  chose  another  reli- 
gion they  were  compelled  to  leave  the  country.  Later  on  it 


148  The:  Rei^ormation. 

was  decided  that  ecclesiastical  leaders  would  forfeit  their 
possessions  if  they  deserted  the  old  faith.  The  power  of 
the  princes  became  supreme  in  religious  as  well  as  secular 
matters.  They  alone  were  permitted  freedom  of  con- 
science and  the  shackles  of  the  ancient  system  still  fet- 
tered their  adherents. 

The  story  of  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  outside 
the  boundaries  of  the  German  Empire  is  one  of  intense 
interest  and  finds  its  narrative  in  the  second  part  of  this 
history. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  Closing  Years  of  the  Life  of  Luther. 

From  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  Schmalkald 
League  Luther  gradually  retired  from  active  leadership 
of  the  movement  that  had  now  become  so  largely  involved 
in  political  affairs.  His  work  from  this  time  on  was  con- 
nected with  reforms  in  public  worship  and  shaping  the 
polity  of  the  Evangelical  Church.  His  influence  was  used 
in  a  conservative  spirit.  "He  disclaimed  the  right  of  sug- 
gesting a  common  order  of  worship  or  a  uniform  eccle- 
siastical polity;  and  Lutheran  ritual  and  polity,  while 
presenting  common  features,  did  not  follow  one  common 
use.  It  may  be  said  generally  that  while  Luther  insisted 
on  a  service  in  the  vernacular,  including  singing  of  Ger- 
man hymns,  he  considered  it  best  to  retain  most  of  the 
ceremonies,  the  vestments  and  the  uses  of  lights  on  the 
altar,  which  had  existed  in  the  unreformed  Church,  while 
he  was  careful  to  explain  that  their  retention  might  be 
dispensed  with  if  thought  necessary. 

*'To  the  popular  mind  the  great  distinction  between  the 
Lutheran  and  the  medieval  Church  service,  besides  the 
use  of  the  vernacular  and  the  supreme  place  assigned  to 
preaching,  was  that  the  people  partook  of  the  cup  in  the 
Sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  and  the  Lutheran  serv- 
ice became  popularly  distinguished  from  the  Reformed 
because  it  retained,  while  the  Reformed  did  away  with, 
most  of  the  medieval  ceremonies  and  vestments.  The 
variations  in  the  details  of  the  polity  of  the  Lutheran 
churches  were  very  numerous,  but  they  all  preserved  the 

149 


150  The  Reformation. 

same  distinctive  principles.  Two  conceptions  lay  at  the 
basis — the  thought  of  the  spiritual  priesthood  of  all  be- 
lievers and  the  belief  that  the  State  was  a  divine  ordi- 
nance, that  the  magistracy  might  represent  the  whole  body 
of  believers  and  that  discipline  and  administration  might 
be  exercised  through  courts  constituted  somewhat  like 
the  consistoral  courts  of  the  medieval  bishops,  their  mem- 
bers being  appointed  by  the  magistracy."^ 

Under  a  grievous  burden  of  ill  health  Luther  toiled  on 
with  indefatigable  zeal.  He  was  the  confidential  adviser 
of  the  evangelical  princes.  These  friendships  in  one  case 
left  a  blot  on  his  record.  Philip  of  Hesse  wished  to  take 
a  second  wife  while  his  first  was  living.  Luther  yielded 
to  his  friend's  urgent  request  and  with  Melanchthon  and 
Martin  Bucer  put  his  name  to  a  document  that  sought  to 
excuse  this  bigamous  marriage. 

As  the  years  went  by  Luther  accepted  with  a  more 
tolerant  spirit  the  differences  on  the  sacramental  question 
that  separated  his  adherents  from  the  South  German 
cities  but  he  never  changed  in  his  views  regarding  what 
he  considered  to  be  the  position  taken  by  the  Zwinglians. 
A  conference  held  at  Wittenberg  (May- June,  1536,)  re- 
sulted in  a  discussion  of  far-reaching  importance.  After 
long  debate  the  differences  "narrowed  to  one  point — 
the  presence  of  the  body  of  Christ,  extended  in  space  in 
the  Sacrament  of  the  Supper."  It  was  agreed  to  leave 
this  an  open  question  and  the  compromise  united  North 
and  South  Germany.  It  is  pleasant  to  recall  that  in  these 
days  Luther  often  expressed  his  admiration  of  Calvin's 

iDr.  T.  M.  Lindsay.  Article  Martin  Luther,  Encyclopedia  Brit- 
tanica.    Eleventh  edition. 


The  Death  of  Luther.  151 

writings  in  their  treatment  of  the  subject  of  the  sacra- 
ment. Melanchthon  was  also  a  friend  and  admirer  of 
Calvin  and  some  theologians  and  historians  have  ex- 
pressed the  belief  that  if  the  action  of  the  Swiss  churches 
in  accepting  the  views  of  Calvin  had  been  taken  before 
the  death  of  Luther,  they  might  have  been  brought 
through  his  influence  into  the  fellowship  of  the  Witten- 
berg Concord. 

There  came  a  message  to  Luther,  one  day,  in  which  he 
was  earnestly  requested  to  act  as  a  mediator  in  a  dispute 
about  inheritance  that  threatened  division  among  the 
heirs  of  the  house  of  Mansfield.  Against  the  entreaties 
of  his  wife  and  other  Wittenberg  friends,  who  knew  how 
frail  was  his  pain-racked  body,  he  decided  to  render  the 
desired  service.  It  was  midwinter  and  Luther  suffered 
severely  during  his  tedious  journey  from  the  bitter  cold. 
He  reached  his  destination  and  was  successful  in  his  er- 
rand. He  preached  at  Eisleben  (February  14th)  with  all 
his  old  time  vigor  and  eloquence.  Suddenly  pausing,  he 
said :  "This  and  much  more  is  to  be  said  about  the  Gos- 
pel ;  but  I  am  too  weak  and  will  close  here."  It  was  his 
last  pulpit  message.  He  was  very  ill  on  the  17th,  and 
died  in  the  early  morning  of  February  18,  1546.  The 
Eisleben  pastors,  Jonas  and  Colius,  were  with  him  at  the 
end.  "Reverend  father,"  said  one  of  them,  "do  you  die 
in  the  faith  of  your  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the  doctrine 
which  you  preached  in  His  name  ?"  With  voice  clear  and 
distinct  he  answered  "Yes."  So  fell  asleep  the  great  Re- 
former in  his  sixty-third  year.  A  cortege  composed  of 
light  armed  troops  commanded  by  the  young  counts  of 
Mansfield  accompanied  the  funeral  car  on  the  long  jour- 
ney to  Wittenberg.    Luther  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  Castle 


152  Thi:  R^I^ORMATION, 

church,  upon  whose  door  he  nailed  the  words  that  opened 
a  new  era  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 

One  of  the  great  Roman  CathoHc  scholars  of  the  last 
century  has  said:  "It  was  Luther's  overpowering  great- 
ness of  mind  and  marvelous  many-sidedness  which  made 
him  to  be  the  man  of  his  time  and  of  his  people;  and  it 
is  correct  to  say  that  there  has  never  been  a  German  who 
has  so  intuitively  understood  his  people,  and  in  turn  has 
been  by  the  nation  so  perfectly  comprehended,  I  might 
say,  absorbed  by  it,  as  this  Augustinian  monk  of  Witten- 
berg. Heart  and  mind  of  the  Germans  were  in  his  hand 
like  the  lyre  in  the  hand  of  the  musician.  Moreover,  he 
has  given  to  his  people  more  than  any  other  man  in  Chris- 
tian ages  has  ever  given  to  a  people;  language,  manual 
for  popular  instruction,  Bible  hymns  of  worship;  and 
everything  which  his  opponents  in  their  turn  had  to  offer 
or  to  place  in  comparison  with  these  showed  itself  tame 
by  the  side  of  his  sweeping  eloquence.  They  stammered ; 
he  spoke  with  the  tongue  of  an  orator ;  it  is  he  only  who 
has  stamped  the  imperishable  seal  of  his  own  soul,  alike 
upon  the  German  language  and  upon  the  German  mind' 
and  even  those  Germans  who  abhorred  him  as  the  power^ 
ful  heretic  and  seducer  of  the  nation,  cannot  escape; 
they  must  discourse  with  his  words,  they  must  think  with 
his  thoughts."^ 

The  more  personal,  intimate  side  of  Luther's  life  is  full 
of  interest.  His  marriage  with  Catherine  von  Bora  was 
a  very  happy  one.  She  proved  a  worthy  and  affectionate 
helpmeet.  As  mother  and  wife  she  assiduously  cared  for 
the  husband  who  from  the  time  of  his  marriage  in  middle 

iDollinger. 


The  De:ath  of  Luther.  153 

life,  suffered  constantly  from  physical  disabilities  that  his 
overwhelming  labors  in  early  years  had  brought  upon 
him.  Besides  his  five  children,  eleven  of  his  orphaned 
nephews  and  nieces  found  shelter  in  his  home;  a  home 
filled  with  the  laughter  of  childhood,  and  echoing  often 
the  notes  of  his  favorite  flute.  Luther  was  a  great  ad- 
mirer of  nature  in  all  its  forms.  The  song  of  birds,  the 
beauty  and  fragrance  of  the  flowers,  were  to  him  a 
source  of  perennial  joy  and  pleasure.  His  warm  and 
vivid  imagination  found  in  sky  and  field  and  garden  a 
wealth  of  illustrations  that  enriched  his  pulpit  utterances 
and  his  every-day  conversation.  Admiring  friends  pre- 
served enough  of  his  familiar  "table  talk"  to  give  us 
snatches  of  his  rugged  humor,  sharp  invective,  and  dog- 
matic obstinacy  of  opinion,  that  disclose  a  marvelous 
tange  of  intellectual  power  and  genius.  In  the  company 
of  the  eminent  teachers,  theologians,  and  princes  of  the 
realm  who  gathered  about  his  hospitable  board,  Luther 
delighted  to  hold  fellowship  in  discussions  of  matters  both 
weighty  and  light.  In  conversation,  as  in  his  writings,  his 
language  was  often  rugged  to  the  point  of  rudeness  and 
his  words  were  by  no  means  always  free  from  passion  and 
vulgar  allusions.  A  study  of  the  literature  of  the  Six- 
teenth Century  proves  the  extent  to  which  language  was 
then  used  as  an  instrument  of  coarse  and  vituperate  as- 
sault. The  pen  of  Luther  was  sharp  as  a  two  edged 
sword;  in  the  excitement  of  the  great  conflict  in  which 
he  was  the  leader  he  smote  his  enemies  without  mercy. 
As  we  look  out  upon  the  battlefield  and  note  the  char- 
acter of  the  forces  Luther  confronted,  is  there  a  sword 
stroke  of  his  sturdy  arm  that  we  would  stay?  We  must 
remember  "that  from  the  end  of  1517  to  his  death  the 


154  'I'hk  Reformation. 

Reformer  stood  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  bitter, 
spiteful  and  personal  conflicts  known  to  the  history  of 
the  world,  a  controversy  in  which  the  honor  of  his  wife, 
his  children,  his  parents,  his  friends  and  his  ruler  were 
as  little  spared  as  his  own  person."^ 

A  volume  could  be  filled  with  the  panegyrics  that  have 
been  written  by  historians  on  the  character  and  work  of 
Luther.  "He  was,"  says  Professor  Lindsay,  "the  one 
great  man  of  his  generation,  standing  head  and  shoulders 
above  everyone  else.  This  does  not  mean  that  he  ab- 
sorbed in  his  individual  personality  everything  that  the 
age  produced  for  the  furtherance  of  humanity.  Many 
impulses  for  good  existed  in  the  Sixteenth  Century  which 
Luther  never  recognized ;  for  an  age  is  always  richer 
than  any  one  man  belonging  to  it.  He  stood  outside  the 
great  artistic  movement.  He  might  have  learned  much 
from  Erasmus  on  the  one  hand,  and  from  the  leaders  of 
the  Peasants'  War  on  the  other,  which  remained  hidden 
to  him.  He  is  the  greatest  in  the  one  sphere  of  religion 
only — in  the  greatest  of  all  spheres.  His  conduct  towards 
Zwingli  and  the  strong  language  he  used  in  speaking  of 
opponents  make  our  generation  discover  a  strain  of  intol- 
erance we  would  fain  not  see  in  so  great  a  man ;  but  his 
contemporaries  did  not  and  could  not  pass  the  same  judg- 
ment upon  him.  In  such  a  divided  Germany  none  but  a 
man  of  the  widest  tolerance  could  have  held  together  the 
Protestant  forces  as  Luther  did ;  and  we  can  see  what  he 
was  when  we  remember  the  sad  effects  of  the  petty  ortho- 
doxies of  the  Amsdorfs  and  the  Osianders  who  came 
after  him. 

iHeinrich  Bohmer. 


Melanchthon's  Last  Years.  155 

"It  is  the  fate  of  most  authors  of  revolutions  to  be  de- 
voured by  the  movement  which  they  have  called  into  be- 
ing. Luther  occasioned  the  greatest  revolution  which 
Western  Europe  has  ever  seen,  and  he  ruled  it  till  his 
death.  History  shows  no  kinglier  man  than  this  Thur- 
ingian  miner's  son." 

Melanchthon  preached  the  funeral  sermon  of  Luther 
from  the  pulpit  of  the  Castle  church,  from  which  the  most 
eloquent  voice  of  his  age  had  so  often  proclaimed  mes- 
sages that  had  stirred  all  Europe.  In  tears  and  with 
broken  utterances  he  paid  his  tribute  to  the  great  leader 
of  the  Reformation  whom  he  had  loved  so  devotedly  and 
aided  with  such  faithfulness.  From  this  time  on  until 
his  death  (April  19,  1560,)  the  mantle  of  Luther  fell 
upon  Melanchthon  in  the  work  that  found  its  guidance 
from  Wittenberg.  The  battle  of  Miihlberg,  fought  the 
year  after  Luther's  death  (1547),  was  a  terrible  blow  to 
the  Reformation  in  Germany.  In  the  attempt  to  find  some 
common  ground  to  reconcile  evangelical  and  papal  doc- 
trines the  Augsburg  "Interim"  was  promulgated.  Me- 
lanchthon, while  he  considered  the  "Interim"  inadmis- 
sible, thought  that  in  matters  of  indifference  it  might  be 
received.  This  attitude  involved  Melanchthon  in  contro- 
versies that  saddened  the  later  years  of  his  life.  The  bat- 
tle storms  raged  throughout  Europe  that  finally  ended  in 
the  defeat  of  the  hopes  and  plans  of  Charles  V. 

The  Diet  of  Augsburg  arranged  in  1555  the  historic 
"Religious  Peace."  The  ecclesiastical  and  political  reser- 
vations won  at  this  time  gave  a  legal  recognition  to  Prot- 
estantism but  limited  the  possibility  of  its  universal  sway 
throughout  Germany, 


i$6  Thi:  Rei^ormation. 

Melanchthon's  gentle  spirit  was  broken  by  the  im- 
placable enmities  of  men  who  could  not  appreciate  his 
breadth  of  vision  and  wise  tolerance.  *'For  two  reasons," 
he  said  as  he  lay  upon  his  death-bed,  "I  desire  to  leave 
this  Hfe;  first,  that  I  may  enjoy  the  sight,  which  I  long 
for,  of  the  Son  of  God  and  of  the  Church  in  heaven; 
next,  that  I  may  be  set  free  from  the  monstrous  and  im- 
placable hatreds  of  the  theologians."  He  rested  from 
earthly  labor  April  19,  1560,  in  his  sixty-third  year,  and 
his  body  was  laid  by  the  side  of  Luther  in  the  Castle 
church  at  Wittenberg. 

The  Reformation  spread  with  amazing  rapidity  through 
the  German  Empire  during  the  life  time  of  Luther.  As 
early  as  1527  the  majority  of  the  people  in  the  Electorate 
of  Saxony  embraced  the  Evangelical  faith.  Ducal  Sax- 
ony, Leipzig,  Dresden  and  other  towns  joined  the  move- 
ment by  1539.  Hessen,  under  the  leadership  of  Philip, 
received  the  Lutheran  doctrines  as  early  as  1526.  Bavarian 
Brandenburg  followed  in  1528  and  Electoral  Brandenburg 
ten  years  later.  Luneburg,  Mecklenburg,  Holstein  and 
Pomerania  were  among  the  first  to  join  the  movement. 

In  East  Friesland  and  Silesia  Lutheranism  found  an 
early  welcome.  The  same  was  true  of  Eastern  Prussia. 
As  early  as  1526  Lutheran  preachers  spread  their  doc- 
trines in  Denmark.  Frederick  L  was  converted  to  the 
movement  and  in  1527  ''liberty  of  conscience"  was 
granted  to  all  parties.  Christian  IIL,  who  succeeded  his 
father  in  1533,  was  an  ardent  reformer.  He  was  present 
at  the  Diet  at  Worms  and  became  a  great  admirer  of 
Luther.  The  Confession  of  Augsburg  was  accepted  by 
Denmark  in  1569. 


Progre:ss  01^  Luthe:ranism.  157 

Norway  and  Iceland  became  Lutheran  about  1539. 
Students  from  Wittenberg  brought  the  doctrines  taught 
by  Luther  into  Sweden  as  early  as  15 19.  Gustavus  Vasa, 
who  came  to  the  throne  in  1529,  supported  the  Reforma- 
tion. He  not  only  staid  the  persecution  of  "heretics,"  but 
assumed  ecclesiastical  power  and  deposed  bishops,  sup- 
pressed monasteries  and  organized  a  national  Church  on 
the  lines  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Denmark.  After 
considerable  internal  strife  Lutheranism  triumphed  and 
the"  Augsburg  Confession  was  adopted  in  1593.  The 
Reformation  found  adherents  in  Poland,  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  In  these  countries  as  well  as  in  Hungary  and 
Transylvania  Protestantism  did  not  gain  a  strong  hold. 

Days  near  at  hand  were  to  usher  in  the  terrible  strug- 
gle of  political  and  religious  forces  known  in  history  as 
the  Thirty  Years'  War.  This  struggle,  and  the  further 
developm^ent  of  the  great  Lutheran  Church,  does  not  fall 
within  the  limits  of  our  story.  "It  was  the  lack  of  unity 
between  German  Protestants  that  was  responsible  for 
most  of  the  trials  through  which  Protestantism  in  Ger- 
many had  to  pass  and  for  the  misfortunes  which  so  nearly 
overwhelmed  it.  Had  the  leaders  of  the  German  Refor- 
mation, during  the  first  century  of  Its  existence,  been  able 
to  come  together  and  to  stand  together  in  a  common  cause 
neither  the  Pope  nor  the  Emperor,  or  both  together,  could 
have  done  the  harm  they  did.  Both  Luther,  Zwingli,  and 
later  also  Calvin,  desired  harmony  between  the  opposing 
parties  and  sought  some  sort  of  agreement  by  means  of 
which  it  might  be  secured.  The  fact  that  neither  they  nor 
their  successors  seemed  able  to  find  it,  means  not  that  it 
could  not  be  found  at  all,  but  only  that  they  as  children 
of  their  time,  did  not  see  clearly  enough  to  discern  the 


158  The  Reformation. 

deeper  unity  of  the  Spirit  beneath  the  outward  differences 
of  opinion.  They  had  to  fight  so  hard  to  make  the  Church 
a  holy  Church  and  a  Christian  Church  that  the  one  uni- 
versal Church  seemed  for  the  time  being  of  a  secondary 
importance,  and  they  fought  the  good  fight  of  the  faith 
against  error  and  corruption  of  every  kind  so  bravely  and 
faithfully  that  we  shall  not  blame  them  for  not  compre- 
hending fully  the  larger  and  higher  plans  of  the  divine 
Commander-in-chief.  Even  to-day,  after  four  centuries 
of  steady  struggle  and  study,  it  is  not  easy  for  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  Master  to  realize  the  infinitely  great  impor- 
tance of  His  prayer,  not  only  for  the  few  disciples  gath- 
ered round  Him  in  the  upper  room,  but  for  them  also  that 
would  come  to  believe  on  Him  through  their  word,  'that 
they  may  all  be  one ;  even  as  Thou  Father  art  in  me  and 
I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us;  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  Thou  didst  send  me.'  "^ 

The  Reformation  as  it  developed  under  the  spiritual 
and  moral  leadership  of  Luther,  Melanchthon,  and  other 
noble  Christian  teachers  in  Wittenberg  and  throughout 
Germany  was,  so  far  as  they  controlled  it,  a  religious 
movement.  But  Luther,  as  he  nailed  his  Theses  on  the 
church  door  in  the  autumn  of  15 17,  and  in  1521  stood 
before  Charles  V.  at  Worms,  all  unconsciously  set  in  mo- 
tion dynamic  forces  that  not  only  shook  the  foundations 
of  hierarchical  supremacy  but  brought  about  civil  conflicts 
and  political  changes  the  end  of  which  has  not  yet  come. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  victories  of  democracy  in 
Church  and  State. 

ij.  H.  Horstmann,  D.D. 


PART  II. 

Thij  Rei^ormation  in  England  ;   Scotland  ;   S wiTzisit- 
land;    France:    The  Netherlands. 


CHAPTER  I. 

'J'uiv  Rkfokmatjon  in  England  During  the  Reign  or' 
Henry  VHI. 

In  a  dramatic  manner,  Luther's  affixing  of  his  theses 
on  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg  (October  31,  15 17,) 
and  his  burning  of  the  papal  decrees  outside  the  city  walls 
(December  10,  1520,)  opened  the  conflict  that  ushered 
in  the  Protestant  Reformation.  But  in  every  world  chang- 
ing battle  a  long  preparation  antidates  the  hour  when  the 
first  gun  is  fired.  The  Lexingtons  and  Sumters,  of  his- 
tory, are  culminating  acts  that  fuse  in  decisive  moments, 
discussions  and  protests  that  have  gathered  strength 
through  many  generations.  As  we  have  seen,  this  was 
peculiarly  true  of  the  Protestant  revolution  in  Europe. 

The  magnitude  of  the  changes  wrought  under  the  lead- 
ership of  Luther,  is  most  fully  realized  when  we  remem- 
ber that  before  his  death  not  only  Germany  but  England, 
Scotland,  the  Dutch  Netherlands,  Scandinavia,  and  por- 
tions of  Switzerland,  had  broken  loose  from  the  papal 
supremacy.  In  this  secession  of  the  Teutonic  nations 
from  Rome,  great  personalities  appear  upon  the  stage  of 
a  history  that  early  divided  Protestantism  into  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  Churches,  separated  widely  in  their  doc- 
trinal tenets  and  ecclesiastical  government. 

Before  entering  on  our  story  of  the  development  of  the 
Reformed  Churches  of  Europe,  that  were  later  on  to  lay 
the  foundations  of  Protestantism  in  the  United  States,  the 
question  naturally  arises.  What  did  these  Churches  in 
their  origin  owe  to  Luther?    In  answer  to  this  query  it 

161 
II 


i62  The  Re:^ormation. 

has  been  wisely  said:  "It  is  vain  to  speculate  on  what 
might  have  been,  or  to  ask  whether  the  undoubted  move- 
ments making  for  reformation  in  lands  outside  Germany 
would  have  come  to  fruition  had  not  Luther's  trumpet- 
call  sounded  over  Europe.  It  is  enough  to  state  what  did 
actually  occur.  If  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  beginnings 
of  the  Reformation  in  every  land  came  from  Luther,  it 
can  scarcely  be  denied  that  he  gave  to  his  contemporaries 
the  inspiration  of  courage  and  of  assured  conviction.  He 
delivered  men  from  the  fear  of  priestcraft;  he  taught 
men,  in  a  way  that  no  other  did,  that  redemption  was  not 
a  secret  science  practiced  by  the  priests  within  an  insti- 
tution called  the  Church ;  that  all  believers  had  the  privi- 
lege of  direct  access  to  the  very  presence  of  God,  and 
that  the  very  thought  of  a  priesthood  who  alone  could 
mediate  between  God  and  man  was  both  superfluous  and 
irreconcilable  with  the  truest  instincts  of  the  Christian 
religion.  His  teaching  had  a  sounding  board  of  dramatic 
enviroment  that  compelled  men  to  listen,  to  attend,  to  be 
impressed,  to  understand,  and  to  follow."^ 

It  is  true,  however,  that  the  Reformation  had  its  begin- 
nings in  England,  and  other  countries,  long  before  the 
birth  of  Luther.  He  himself  bore  witness  to  the  inspira- 
tion and  help  that  he  had  received  from  Wiclif,  Huss, 
and  other  early  reformers.  Outside  of  Germany  and 
Scandinavia  the  Reformation  developed  along  lines  that 
diverged  very  widely  from  Lutheranism.  English  Prot- 
estantism finds  its  roots  in  the  pioneer  labors  of  Wiclif. 
In  Scotland  John  Knox  is  the  great  dominating  person- 
ality.    From  Geneva,  John  Calvin  sent  out  messages  of 

^Lindsay.    History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  14. 


Thk  Rkformation  In  Engi^and.  163 

truth  that  have  been  as  iron  in  the  blood  of  generations 
of  strong  men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  Puritan  faith 
and  are  the  acknowledged  founders  of  a  democracy  in 
Church  and  State  that  has  already  won  victories  that 
promise  Avorld  leadership  in  the  Twentieth  Century  of 
history.  • 

Tlie  story  of  the  rise  of  the  Reformed  Churches  of 
Europe  is  one  that  finds  its  springs  in  differing  national 
life  and  institutions.  But  these  streams  more  and  more 
unite  as  the  centuries  go  by.  In  the  nation  they  founded 
across  the  Atlantic  the  fullest  expression  of  this  unity  is 
disclosed  in  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America. 

The  Reformation  in  England. 

More  than  one  third  of  the  pages  of  John  Richard 
Green's  "History  of  the  English  People,"  are  taken  up 
with  that  part  of  the  history  of  England  that  in  its  story, 
social,  religious,  and  political,  is  but  a  chapter  in  the  rise 
and  progress  of  the  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Cen- 
tury. Nor  is  this  an  undue  granting  of  space  to  a  period 
that  takes  us  back  to  the  times  of  Chaucer  and  Wiclif ; 
gives  us  the  record  of  the  conflict  of  Henry  VIII.  with 
Rome;  the  founding  of  the  Church  of  England;  the  dis- 
solution of  the  monasteries;  the  marvelous  spring  time 
of  Elizabeth's  reign  with  its  voyaging  into  new  lands ;  the 
unfolding  of  the  language  in  which  the  genius  of  Shake- 
speare and  Milton  disclosed  its  power  and,  above  all,  the 
period  in  which  Puritanism  won  leadership  as  a  source 
of  life  that  is  still  working  as  a  leavening  power. 

The  Reformation  in  England,  at  every  step  in  its 
course,  gives  testimony  that  the  protests  that  arose  against 


164  The:  Reformatiox. 

the  corruptions  and  hierarchical  supremacy  of  the  Ro- 
man Church,  were  inextricably  connected  with  the  de- 
velopment of  the  national  consciousness  that,  from  the 
days  of  IMagna  Charta,  had  won  the  battles  of  a  demo- 
racy  that  only  believed  in  a  king  and  royal  privileges,  held 
in  check  and  subservient  to  the  will  of  the  people  as  ex- 
pressed through  its  Parliament.  /4t  was  a  conflict  between 
imperialistic  ambitions  and  papal  authority  and  a  democ-- 
racy  that  finally  won  victories,  the  significance  and  worth 
of  which  are  yet  to  come  to  their  full  appraisal  as  a  unify- 
ing, and  saving  power  in  State  and  Church.  / 

Let  us  again  take  up  the  threads  of  English  history  al- 
ready noted  in  former  chapters.  /The  early  years  of  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  with  the  high  hopes  cherished  by 
the  Oxford  reformers,  soon  passed  into  the  struggles  that 
made  this  period  fateful  in  English  history.  The  char- 
acter of  Henry  VIII.  is  one  of  the  most  complex  among 
the  sovereigns  of  Britain,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  atti- 
tude and  verdict  of  historical  writers.  That  he  was  a  man 
of  selfish  ambitions,  imperious  will,  and  intellectual 
strength,  all  are  agreed.  A  superficial  study  of  his  career 
finds  little  to  redeem  him  from  the  charge  of  direst  cruelty 
and  lustful  purpose.  A  deeper  probing  does  not  free  him 
from  these  charges  but  it  does  place  many  of  his  acts  in  a 
light  where  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  he  could  have  decided 
differently  than  he  did. 

It  was  the  pressure  of  national  sentiment  that  enabled 
Henry,  with  the  aid  of  Cardinal  Wolsey  to  thwart  the 
power  of  a  Pope  who  was  but  a  tool  in  the  hands  of 
Charles  V.,  and  place  himself  at  the  head  of  a  national 


160 


Founding  of  thk  Churcm  of  England.         165 

Church  controlled  by  the  Crown  and  bidding  defiance 
to  Rome :  a  defiance  that  brought  about  the  dissolution 
of  the  monasteries  and  poured  their  long  accumulated 
wealth,  not  into  the  treasury  of  the  Roman  See,  but  into 
channels  that  strengthened  the  position  of  the  royal  house, 
and  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of  England.  In 
these  mighty  changes  we  see  the  melting,  into  a  roaring 
tumultuous  stream,  of  glaciers  that  had  been  slowly  mov- 
ing forward  through  centuries  to  a  point  when  their  gath- 
ered strength  broke  loose  and  destroyed  ecclesiastical 
citadels  of  power  that  for  a  thousand  years  had  been  con- 
trolled by  Rome. 

The  revolt  of  England  against  papal  supremacy  was 
brought  about  through  political  causes,  the  narrative  of 
which  is  indeed  a  fateful  chapter  in  English  history. 
Henry  VIII.  came  to  a  throne  that  had  been  placed  upon 
a  strong  foundation.  It  represented  the  will  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  king  and  parliament  w^orked  together  in  the  great 
change  that  transferred  to  the  Crown  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction  that  had  been  exercised  hitherto  by  the  Pope. 
In  the  early  years  of  his  reign  Henry  VIII.  was  a  sup- 
porter of  Rome  and  bitterly  opposed  to  Luther.  At  the 
time  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  he  wrote  a  book  denouncing 
the  German  reformer.  It  pleased  Julius  II.  so  much  that 
he  publicly  named  Henry  as  ''Defender  of  the  Faith." 
The  years  near  at  hand  changed  this  friendship  into  fierce 
enmity.  This  story  compels  reference  to  the  marital 
troubles  of  Henry  VHI,  that,  in  their  unfolding,  disclose 
the  fact  that  the  women  whose  lives  were  so  sadly  in- 
volved were  but  pawns  in  the  game  of  royal  and  papal 
efforts  to  secure  supremacy  in  the  affairs  of  Europe. 
Henry  VII.,  like  his  son,  had  an  overruling  desire  to  fix 


i66  TriK  Reformation. 

himself  and  his  heirs  firmly  on  the  throne.  Tn  order  to 
strengthen  this  purpose  he  arranged  the  alliance  by  which 
Catherine  of  Arragon,  the  daughter  of  Ferdinand  of 
Spain,  was  married  to  Arthur,  the  Prince  of  Wales.,  The 
untimely  death  of  Arthur  disarranged  the  plans  that  his 
father  so  fondly  cherished.  The  laws  of  the  Church  for- 
bade marriage  with  a  brother's  wife.  But  royal  wills  do 
not  easily  accept  restriction.  By  miserable  subterfuges  a 
decree  was  secured  from  Pope  Julius  II.  that  expressed 
doubt  as  to  the  validity  of  the  former  marriage  and  Cathe- 
rine was  betrothed  to  Henry  YIII.  He  was  but  a  boy 
at  the  time  and  Catherine  was  nine  years  older  than  him- 
self. Upon  his  accession  to  the  throne  it  became  neces- 
sary for  him  to  make  final  decision  as  to  his  marriage. 
At  his  father's  suggestion,  at  the  time  of  his  betrothal  to 
Catherine,  he  had  signed  a  protest,  locked  up  as  a  court 
secret,  that  opened  the  way  if  he  desired  to  do  so,  when 
he  came  of  age,  to  repudiate  his  promise.  But  the  alliance 
with  Spain  was  alluring  in  its  promise  of  power  in  the 
affairs  of  Europe,  and  the  marriage  was  consummated. 
We  can  see  that  Henry  VIII.  had  a  personal  interest  in 
taking  up  the  cudgels  in  behalf  of  the  Pope  when  Luther 
made  his  attack  upon  the  Roman  Church.  He  understood 
very  well  that  the  validity  of  his  marriage  depended  upon 
the  upholding  of  these  claims  by  papal  authority.  Chil- 
dren were  born  of  this  marriage  but  all,  with  one  excep- 
tion, died  in  infancy.  The  Princess  Mary  survived. 
Upon  her  the  succession  depended.  Another  alluring  al- 
liance became  the  hope  of  her  father.  The  marriage  of 
the  Princess  to  Charles  V.  would  make  the  Spanish  and 
Papal  Courts  the  friend  and  ally  of  the  English  Crown.'' 
Two  men  played  a  large  part  in  the  tragic  drama  of  these 


The  Betrayal  oe  Henry  VIII  by  Rome  and  Spain.  167 

days.  One  of  these  men,  Thomas  More,  has  already 
found  a  place  in  our  narrative.  The  other  is  Thomas 
Wolsey,  now  cardinal  and  Archbishop  of  York,  and 
Henry's  war  minister.  More  had  become  a  member  of 
the  king's  privy  council.  When  Luther  made  his  fierce 
reply  to  Henry  VIII. 's  book  More  defended  it.  As  time 
went  on  his  sympathy  with  the  Reformation  movement 
also  cooled  and  he  became  a  staunch  upholder  of  the  au- 
thority of  the  Papal  See.  Erasmus  yielded  to  his  impor- 
tunity to  use  his  influence  against  Luther  and  during  the 
Peasants'  War  More  wrote  letters  "charging  the  Lu- 
theran movement  with  having  lit  the  flame  of  sedition  and 
set  Germany  on  fire."  From  this  time  onward  when, 
from  the  height  of  power  he  fell,  like  Wolsey,  a  victim  to 
the  cruel  hate  and  treachery  of  Henry  VIII.,  he  upheld 
the  claims  of  Rome  and  died  in  her  communion. 

The  hoped  for  Spanish  alliance,  by  the  marriage  of 
Charles  V.  to  the  Princess  Mary,  was  not  consumrnated. 
The  marriage  of  Charles  to  the  Infanta  of  Portugal 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  proud  English  sovereign  to  the- 
fact,  long  suspected  by  Wolsey,  that  he  had  been  be- 
trayed both  by  Spain  and  Rome.  In  this  hour,  that  threat- 
ened the  life  of  the  Crown,  Henry  VIII.  made  resolu- 
tions prompted  by  selfish  ambitions,  that  in  the  end  were 
providentially  overruled  in  bringing  about  the  Reforma- 
tion that  placed  England  among  Protestant  nations. 
Angered  by  the  treachery  of  the  Pope  and  Charles  V. 
and  deeming  it  doubtful  if  England  in  the  event  of  his 
death  would  place  Mary  on  a  throne  that  a  queen  had 
never  occupied,  he  decided  with  the  help  of  Wolsey  to 


<. 


i68  Th%  Reformation. 

secure  at  all  hazards  a  divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon. 
Wolse}^  employed  his  adroit  powers  to  the  utmost  to  se- 
cure the  sanction  of  the  Pope  to  this  separation  from  the 
wife  who  had  met  her  every  duty  in  faithfulness,  but  the 
negotiations  failed.  Henry  knew  the  existing  temper  and 
feeling  of  the  English  people  against  the  autocratic  rule 
of  Rome.  ''The  time  had  come  when  England  was  to 
claim  for  herself  the  fulness  of  power  ecclesiastical  as 
well  as  temporal,  within  her  bounds ;  and  in  the  concen- 
tration of  all  authority  within  the  hands  of  the  sovereign 
which  was  the  political  characteristic  of  the  time,  to  claim 
this  power  for  the  nation  was  to  claim  it  for  the  king."^ 

Henry  consummated  a  secret  marriage  with  Anne 
Boleyn,  a  union  that  in  its  tragic  end,  disclosed  the  dis- 
solute life  that  was  hidden  behind  palace  doors  and  royal 
favor.  To  those  who  wish  to  know  the  facts  of  this  tragic 
history  we  commend  a  reading  of  the  testimony  that 
ended  the  life  of  this  consort  of  England's  despotic 
sovereign.  In  this  drama  we  remember  that  Anne  Boleyn 
was  the  mother  of  Elizabeth,  under  whose  reign  Prot- 
estantism was,  by  the  will  of  the  people,  firmly  estab- 
lished. 

Now  that  we  can  happily  cease  mention,  for  the  most 
part,  of  Henry  VHI.  and  his  marital  troubles,  we  turn 
again  to  the  history  of  the  people  and  some  of  the  leaders 
whose  support  made  it  possible  for  an  imperious  king  to 
break  away  from  the  control  of  Rome  and  lead  in  political 
action  that  founded  a  National  Church  and  after  his  death 
made  England  a  foremost  power  in  the  Protestant  Refor- 
mation. 

^G recti.     History  of  the  English  People. 


Last  Days  of  Erasmus.  169 

The  closing  years  in  the  Hfe,  both  of  Erasmus  and 
More,  are  not  altogether  pleasant  to  dwell  upon.  We 
have  already  referred  to  the  remarkable  influence  that 
followed  the  publication  of  the  Greek  New  Testament  by 
Erasmus.  "It  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Vulgate,  the 
Bible  of  the  Church  was  not  only  a  second-hand  docu- 
ment, but  in  places  an  erroneous  document.  A  shock  was 
thus  given  to  the  credit  of  the  clergy  in  the  province  of 
literature,  equal  to  that  which  was  given  in  the  province 
of  science  by  the  astronomical  discoveries  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century."^  Basil  was  the  home  of  Erasmus  for 
many  years,  and  here  he  filled  the  position  of  general  edi- 
tor and  literary  adviser  of  the  famous  Frobrin  Press. 
For  a  time  he  resided  in  Freiburg,  but  finally  returned  to 
Basel,  where  he  continued  his  literary  activities  until  his 
death  the  12th  of  July  1536,  in  his  70th  year, 

Erasmus  was  not  a  reformer  of  the  type  of  Luther  or 
Knox.  He  was  keenly  alive  to  the  evils  that  had  become 
entrenched  in  the  Roman  Church.  He  earnestly  favored 
the  suppression  of  the  monasteries  and  the  overthrow  of 
the  power  of  the  clergy,  but  these  reforms  he  desired  to 
secure  from  within  the  Church.  His  position  brought 
him  again  and  again  into  conflict  with  Luther.  *'In  the 
mind  of  Erasmus  there  was  no  metaphysical  inclination ; 
he  was  a  man  of  letters,  with  a  general  tendency  to 
rational  views  on  every  subject  which  came  under  his  pen. 
His  was  not  the  mind  to  originate,  like  Calvin,  a  new 
scheme  of  Christian  thought.  He  is  at  his  weakest  in  de- 
fending free  will  against  Luther,  and  indeed  he  can 
hardly  be  said  to  enter  on  the  metaphysical  question.    He 

^Encyclopedia  Brittanica.     Article  Uraswiis.     Kleventh  edition. 


170  The;  Reformation. 

treats  the  dispute  entirely  from  the  outside.  Though 
Erasmus  did  not  intend  it,  he  undoubtedly  shook  the 
ecclesiastical  edifice  in  all  its  parts. "^ 

Tidings  of  the  execution  of  Sir  Thomas  More  (1535) 
reached  Erasmus  in  his  home  at  Basel,  where  he  was  then 
suffering  greatly  from  illness  and  the  infirmities  of  age. 
He  was  writing  a  book  on  the  "Purity  of  the  Church"  in 
which  he  spoke  of  his  friend  as  "a  soul  purer  than 
snow."  The  verdict  of  history  has  dealt  with  More  as  a 
man  of  noble  and  generous  spirit,  strong  intellectually  and 
far-visioned  as  a  statesman.  The  royal  master,  whom  he 
so  faithfully  served,  but  to  whom  he  would  not  yield  in 
matters  of  conviction,  could  send  him  to  the  block  but  he 
could  not  break  the  temper  of  his  noble  spirit.  While  he 
was  lord  chancellor,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  he  became 
prosecutor  of  heretics.  Tolerance  in  these  times,  as  both 
Geneva  and  Rome  gave  illustration,  was  an  unknown 
virtue.  Christian  men  of  all  parties  deemed  it  their 
bounden  duty  to  destroy,  root  and  branch,  any  denial 
of  truths  they  held  as  the  foundation  of  their  faith.  If 
men  would  not  renounce  their  heresies  death  was  the 
penalty.  But  we  are  assured  that  More's  gentleness 
showed  itself  even  when  he  was  an  official  prosecutor. 
He  left  no  means  unused  to  secure  the  abjuring  of  the 
heretics  brought  to  trial  during  his  chancellorship.  So 
well  did  he  succeed  that  only  three  were  burned  at  the 
stake  and  these  martyrs  died  with  the  prayer  upon  their 
lips,  **May  the  Lord  forgive  and  open  the  eyes  of  Sir 
Thomas  More." 

"Strange  was  it  that  during  these  sad  months,  while 

^Tbid. 


Thomas  Cromwivll.  171 

More  was  persecuting  others  for  consciences'  sake,  he 
himself  had  to  choose  between  his  own  conscience  and 
death."  (Seebohm.)  Among  his  last  acts  was  the  prepa- 
ration of  a  paper  in  which  he  warned  his  friends,  in  met- 
ing out  punishment  to  heretics,  not  to  let  their  zeal  outrun 
their  charity.  His  heart  was  saddened  over  the  conflicts 
that  were  disrupting  the  Church  and  it  was  his  prayer  in 
the  closing  days  of  his  life  that  there  might  be  a  recon- 
ciliation brought  about  between  Catholics  and  Protestants. 
After  the  fall  of  Wolsey,  Thomas  Cromwell  became  the 
parliamentary  agent  through  whom  Henry  pushed  for- 
ward his  plans.  Like  his  master  he  was  a  man  of  un- 
scrupulous ambition.  He  toiled  unremittingly  to  secure 
the  temporal  sovereignty  for  the  Crown  in  all  matters  of 
government.  He  was  a  Protestant  because  they  repre- 
sented the  partisan  supporters  of  the  absolute  monarchy 
he  upheld  with  all  the  vigor  of  his  immense  strength. 
Henry  and  his  minister  were  of  kindred  cn^elty  of  spirit. 
"He  used  the  ax  with  as  little  passion  as  the  surgeon  does 
the  knife,  and  he  operated  on  some  of  the  best  and  noblest 
in  the  land."  Parliament  stood  by  the  king  in  his  strife 
with  Rome.  The  historic  Act  of  Supremacy  ordered  that 
the  king  "shall  be  taken,  accepted,  and  reputed  the  only 
supreme  head  on  earth  of  the  Church  of  England,  and 
shall  have  and  enjoy  annexed  and  united  to  the  imperial 
crown  of  this  realm  as  well  the  title  and  state  thereof  as 
all  his  honors,  jurisdiction,  authorities,  immunities,  profits 
and  commodities  to  the  said  dignity  belonging,  with  full 
power  to  visit,  repress,  redress,  reform,  and  amend  all 
such  errors,  heresies,  abuses,  contempts,  and  enormities, 
which  by  any  manner  of  spiritual  authority  or  jurisdic- 
tion might  or  may  lawfully  be  reformed."    The  full  sig- 


1/2  TiiK  Rki-ormation. 

nificance  of  this  Act  was  made  dear  when  in  tlie  fol- 
lowing year  (1535)  Henry  formally  assumed  the  title  of 
"on  earth  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England." 
Thomas  Cromwell  became  the  King's  vicegerent.  Under 
the  Act  of  Supremacy  even  the  bishops  of  the  Church  of 
England  were  dependents  of  the  Crown.  ''That  the 
power  of  deposition  was  at  a  later  time  quietly  abandoned 
was  due  not  so  much  to  any  deference  for  the  religious 
instincts  of  the  nation  as  to  the  fact  that  the  steady  ser- 
vility of  the  bishops  rendered  its  exercise  unnecessary."^ 

The  Articles  of  Religion  of  the  new  National  Church 
were  drafted  by  the  hand  of  Henry  himself.  The  Bible 
and  the  three  historic  Creeds  were  made  the  sole  grounds 
of  faith.  The  Sacraments  were  reduced  from  seven  to 
three.  Following  the  action  of  the  Lutheran  churches 
the  doctrines  of  Transubstantiation  and  Confession  were 
maintained.  A  place  was  found  for  the  doctrine  of  Jus- 
tification by  Faith.  The  doctrine  of  purgatory,  of  par- 
dons, and  of  masses  for  the  dead,  were  condemned,  but 
prayers  for  the  dead  were  permitted  and  the  ceremonies 
of  the  Latin  Church  w^ere  retained  with  slight  changes. 

At  this  point  the  name  of  William  Tyndale  may  well 
find  mention.  While  a  student  at  Oxford,  and  then  at 
Cambridge,  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Erasmus's 
New  Testament.  "If  God  spare  my  Hfe."  he  replied  to  a 
learned  professor,  "ere  many  years  I  will  cause  a  boy 
that  driveth  the  plow  shall  know  more  of  the  Scripture 
than  thou  doest."  In  middle  life  his  dream  was  realized. 
Drawn  by  the  fame  of  Luther  he  joined  the  company  of 
students  that  were  flocking  to  Wittenberg.     In  1525  he 

^Creen's  History  of  the  ItncjUsh  Penile. 


WlIXIAM    TyNDALK.  173 

completed  his  version  of  the  New  Testament.  Six  thou- 
sand copies  of  its  first  edition  were  sent  to  England.  De- 
nounced, by  reason  of  its  Lutheran  origin,  as  heretical  it 
was  burned  with  other  books  in  the  presence  of  Wolsey 
in  St.  Paul's  churchyard.  Only  eleven  years  later,  under 
the  avowed  patronage  of  Henry,  Miles  Coverdale  was  em- 
ployed to  revise  the  translation  of  Tyndale  and  it  became 
the  Bible  of  the  people,  bearing  the  approval  of  the 
Crown  at  the  time,  when  by  royal  command,  the  Creed, 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  were 
rendered  into  English  and  ordered  to  be  taught  by  every 
schoolmaster  to  his  pupils  and  by  every  father  to  his 
children.  The  execution  of  Bishop  Fisher  and  Sir 
Thomas  More,  and  the  martyrdom  of  the  brethren  of  the 
Charter  house,  stirred  intense  feeling  throughout  every 
part  of  the  realm.  Even  radical  supporters  of  Henry,  in 
his  conflict  with  Rome  and  the  purpose  to  rear  the  super- 
structure of  a  National  Church,  were  dismayed  at  the 
ruthless  decisions  of  his  prime  minister.  The  revolt  in 
the  north  and  west  of  England  and  the  marriage  of 
Henry  to  Anne  of  Cleves,  revealed  alike  the  strength  and 
weakness  of  the  counsellor  who  had  done  so  much  to 
realize  the  ambitions  of  his  sovereign.  But  the  self- 
seeking  and  cold-hearted  king,  hearing  the  mutterings  of 
popular  condemnation,  sends  Cromwell  to  his  death. 

Rome  no  longer  controlled  either  the  secular  or  ecclesi- 
astical affairs  of  Britain.  England  was  to  be  the  leader, 
side  by  side  with  Scotland  and  the  Netherlands,  of  the 
new  democracy  that  was  to  lay  the  foundations  of  free 
Reformed  Churches,  that  gave  birth  to  the  national  life 
that  now  holds  sway  in  North  America.  Surely  this  is 
sufficient  reason  for  dwelling  at  full  length  upon  the  his- 


174  Thk  Reformation. 

tory  of  the  Reformation  in  the  countries  where  democ- 
racy won  victories  that  are  the  heritage  of  the  Churches 
that  numerically  and  historically  hold  the  foremost  place 
of  influence  and  leadership  in  the  United  States  and  the 
Dominion  of  Canada. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Till':  Reformation   In   England  From   thii  Ci^osing 

Years  oe  the  Reign  of  Henry  VIH.  Until 

THE  Accession  of  Elizabeth. 

In  the  torrential  rush  of  changes  that  tore  away  cen- 
tury-old foundations,  there  were  counter  currents  that  dis- 
closed opposing  forces  that  strove  to  stay  the  destructive 
flood.  But  in  vain.  The  decree  of  an  angry  Pope,  excom- 
municating the  King  of  England  and  calling  upon  the 
Emperor,  all  Christian  Princes,  and  even  his  own  sub- 
jects, to  execute  it  by  force  of  arms,  marked  the  final 
breach  with  Rome.  Acts  of  Parliament  (1534)  of  the 
most  drastic  nature  were  adopted.  The  payment  of  "first 
fruits"  to  the  Pope  were  forbidden,  as  well  as  the  pay- 
ment of  Peter's  pence.  The  validity  of  the  king's  mar- 
riage was  affirmed  and  the  Supremacy  Act  declared  that 
the  king  was  rightfully  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  that  it  was  within  his  powers  to  make 
ecclesiastical  visitations  and  redress  ecclesiastical  abuses. 
To  this  v^as  added  an  Act  that  marked  as  treason  the 
calling  of  the  king  a  heretic  or  schismatic  or  the  denial 
that  he  was  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church.  Convo- 
cations held  at  Canterbury  and  York  ratified  this  action 
by  declaring  that  "the  Roman  Pontiff  had  no  greater 
jurisdiction  bestowed  on  him  by  God  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures than  any  other  foreign  Bishop." 

It  is  well  to  note  that  this  change  was  at  first  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  temporal  control  and  headship  of 
the    English    Church.      The   changes    in    doctrine    were 


176  Tiiii  Reformation. 

slight.  The  ecclesiastical  courts  did  not  lose  their  power 
and  place.  Appeals  from  their  decisions  were  no  longer 
taken  to  Rome  but  settled  by  the  king's  courts.  We  have 
already  referred  to  the  outcome  of  discussions  that,  at  an 
early  date,  under  the  leadership  of  Cranmer,  Thomas 
Cromwell  and  Bishop  Latimer,  secured  what  are  known  as 
the  7V;i  Articles.  In  their  adoption  we  find  the  spirit  of 
Wiclif  and  the  aspirations  of  the  Oxford  Reformers  com- 
ing to  their  realization.  "These  Articles,"  says  Professor 
Lindsa}^^  *'are  anything  'but  essentially  Romish  with  the 
Pope  left  out  in  the  cold.'  They  are  rather  an  attempt 
to  construct  a  brief  creed  which  a  pliant  Lutheran  and  a 
pliant  Romanist  might  agree  upon — a  singularly  success- 
ful attempt,  and  one  which  does  great  credit  to  the  theo- 
logical attainments  of  the  English  king." 

A  committee  composed  mostly  of  Bishops  were  em- 
powered **'to  compile  certain  rudiments  of  Christianity 
and  a  Catechism,"  This  little  volume,  popularly  known 
as  the  Bishop's  Book,  was  issued  in  1537.  The  clergy 
w^ere  ordered  to  read  lessons  from  its  pages  on  every 
Sunday.  The  Catechism,  provided  at  the  same  date,  had 
wide  circulation.  When  the  Bishop's  Book  was  published 
the  king  found  "no  time  convenient  to  overlook  the  great 
pains"  that  had  been  taken  in  its  compilation.  Later  on 
the  royal  intermeddler  found  leisure  to  revise  its  pages 
and  this  edition,  known  as  the  King's  Book,  was  pub- 
lished in  1543.  Six  years  previous  to  this  date,  under  the 
Injunctions  of  1536,  a  copy  of  the  Bible  had  been  placed 
in  all  the  churches.    Thus  was  the  power  in  high  places 

■^History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  335, 


Cranmer's  Bible.  177 

that,  in  pursuit  of  selfish  ambitions,  separated  England 
from  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  overruled  in  ways  that 
gave  the  Light  that,  in  its  transforming  power  in  the  life 
of  English  homes  and  hearts  from  this  time  forward, 
made  the  Reformation  in  Britain  a  source  of  spiritual 
awakening  and  preparation  for  world  leadership  in  a 
democracy  that  found  its  fountain  head  in  the  teachings 
of  Christ  and  the  institutions  that  flourished  in  the  early 
days  of  Christianity. 

It  was  Tyndale's  version,  with  some  additions,  and  a 
preface  by  the  Archbishop,  popularly  named  the  Great 
Bible  or  Cranmefs  Bible,  that  was  read  each  Sunday 
from  every  pulpit  in  the  land.  There  was  a  time  in  these 
years  when  Henry,  ready  to  break  all  commandments, 
but  over  anxious  to  ease  his  conscience  and  strengthen 
the  succession  to  the  Crown  by  securing  approval  of  his 
divorce  from  Catherine  of  Arragon,  turned  for  assistance 
to  the  leaders  of  German  Protestantism.  An  influential 
embassy  was  sent  to  Wittenberg.  They  were  courtiers 
and  had  a  courteous  reception.  But  the  Lutheran  leaders 
did  not  change  their  opinion  of  the  King  of  England  and 
the  hypocritical  part  they  believed  he  was  playing  in 
transferring  the  power  of  Rome  into  his  own  hands.  The 
death  of  Queen  Catherine  (January  7,  1536,)  relieved 
Henry  of  further  desire  for  outside  approval. 

Thomas  Cromwell  had  in  charge  the  superintendence 
of  the  visitation  of  monasteries  that  led  to  their  dissolu- 
tion under  the  Act  of  Parliament  (1536).^  This  change, 
far-reaching  in  its  influence,  was  brought  about  by  what 

^A  full  account,  based  upon  original  documents  and  reports,  is 
easily  accessible  in  Frond's  Henry  VIII.  (Everyman's  Library), 
Vol.  II,  pp.  109-181. 
12 


178  Th^  Reformation. 

has  been  truthfully  called  *'the  first  great  parliament  of 
the  Reformation."  Unfortunately  almost  all  of  the  re- 
ports of  the  discussions,  that  resulted  in  drastic  decisions, 
have  been  lost,  but  we  know  the  conditions  that  were 
dominant  in  the  action  taken  at  this  time.  The  feudal 
system  had  lost  its  power  in  England.  "The  Lords  had 
ceased  to  be  the  leaders  of  the  English  people;  they  ex- 
isted as  an  ornament  rather  than  a  power;  and  under 
the  direction  of  the  council  they  followed  as  the  stream 
drew  them,  when  individually,  if  they  had  so  dared,  they 
would  have  chosen  a  far  other  course.  The  work  was 
done  by  the  Commons ;  by  them  the  first  move  was  made ; 
by  them  and  the  king,  the  campaign  was  carried  through 
to  victory.  And  this  one  body  of  men,  dim  as  they  now 
seem  to  us,  who  assembled  on  the  wreck  of  the  admin- 
istration of  Wolsey,  had  commenced  and  had  concluded 
a  revolution  which  had  reversed  the  foundations  of  the 
State.  They  found  England  in  dependency  upon  a  for- 
eign power;  they  left  it  a  free  nation.  They  found  it 
under  the  despotism  of  a  Church  establishment  saturated 
with  disease;  and  they  had  bound  the  hands  of  that  es- 
tablishment ;  they  had  laid  it  down  under  the  knife,  and 
carved  away  its  putrid  members ;  and  stripping  ofif  its 
Nessus  robe  of  splendor  and  power,  they  had  awakened 
in  it  some  forced  remembrance  of  its  higher  calling. 

"The  elements  of  a  far  deeper  change  were  seething; 
a  change,  not  in  the  disposition  of  outward  authority,  but 
in  the  beliefs  and  convictions  which  touched  the  life  of 
the  soul.  This  was  yet  to  come;  and  the  work  so  far 
was  but  the  initial  step  or  prelude  leading  up  to  the  more 
solemn  struggle.  Yet  where  the  enemy  who  is  to  be  con- 
quered is  strong,  not  in  vital  force,  but  in  the  prestige  of 


Dissolution  of  the  Monasteries.  179 

authority,  and  in  the  enchanted  defences  of  superstition, 
those  truly  win  the  battle  who  strike  the  first  blow,  who 
deprive  the  ideal  of  its  terrors  by  daring  to  defy  it"  (An- 
thony Froude), 

The  feeling  had  gained  strength  through  generations 
that  the  monasteries  were  the  source  of  unspeakable  evils. 
Protected  by  Rome  from  civil  responsibility  their  inmates 
were  more  and  more  looked  upon  as  the  selfish  users  of 
inherited  wealth,  given  for  noble  purposes,  but  now  em- 
ployed in  ways  that  made  once  venerated  religious  houses 
breeding  places  of  superstition,  indolence  and  corrupt 
practices. 

There  are  good  reasons  for  the  belief  that  it  was  not 
sympathy  with  popular  feeling  that  made  Henry  VIII. 
anxious  to  suppress  the  monasteries.  He  was  quite  ready 
to  understake  this  work  as  a  means  of  strengthening  his 
kingly  power.  The  great  fortune  that  had  come  to  him 
from  his  father  had  dwindled  under  the  demands  of  plans 
that  sought  under  the  administration  of  Wolsey  to  win 
leadership  in  the  affairs  of  Europe.  The  looting  of  the 
wealth  of  the  monasteries  offered  an  easy  way  of  filling 
the  royal  treasury.  More  than  this  it  enabled  Henry  to 
enrich  the  rapacious  company  of  courtiers  upon  whose 
good  will  so  much  depended.  The  visitation  uncovered 
iniquities  that  an  indignant  House  of  Commons  would  no 
longer  endure.  They  were  the  agents  of  reform.  The 
king  reaped  the  benefits  he  desired.  Not  only  was  the 
monastic  property  vested  in  his  name  but  quantities  of 
jewels  and  precious  metal.  Testimony  is  on  record  that 
the  shrine  of  St.  Tliomas  at  Canterbury  furnished  twenty- 
six  cartloads  of  irold  and  silver. 


l8o  The  REt'ORMATlON. 

In  this  overturn  of  ancient  foundations  the  priesthood 
lost  their  influence  and  they  abjectly  sued  for  aid  from 
the  men  whom  they  had  persecuted.  Cranmer  became 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and  Hugh  Latimer,  the  farm- 
er's son,  who  had  won  high  honors  at  Cambridge  and  had 
gained  renown  as  a  preacher  of  remarkable  power  and 
courage,  was  appointed  Bishop  of  Worcester. 

The  pendulum  of  popular  feeling  now  swung  to  an  oppo- 
site extreme.  The  friends  of  Rome,  and  they  were  many, 
were  embittered  by  the  sacrilegious  w^ay  in  which  the  ob- 
jects of  their  superstitious  worship  were  cast  into  the 
mire.  Even  Henry  complained  that  the  new  Scriptures 
were  ''disputed,  rhymned,  sung  and  jangled  in  every  tav- 
ern and  ale-house."  Even  the  Mass  "was  held  up  to 
scorn  in  ballads  and  mystery  plays."  These  insults  of  the 
populace  caused  a  reaction.  The  Parliament,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  the  king,  enacted  the  statute  well  termed  "the 
bloody  whip  with  six  strings."  It  was  made  a  felony,  pun- 
ishable with  death  "to  teach  that  it  was  necessary  to  com- 
municate in  both  kinds  in  the  Holy  Supper,"  or  that 
priests,  monks  or  nuns  vowed  to  celibacy  might  marry. 

There  were  other  "strings,"  equally  severe,  under  the 
lash  of  which  heretics  suffered,  even  unto  death,  in  the 
later  years  of  Henry's  reign.  With  vindicative  haste  the 
prime  minister  who,  like  Wolsey,  had  given  his  life  to 
the  task  of  making  the  Crown  the  source  both  of  ecclesi- 
astical and  political  authority  was  hurried  to  the  block. 
Cranmer  barely  escaped  the  same  fate.  Three  Lutheran 
clergymen  and  three  Romanists  were  beheaded  for  deny- 
ing the  King's  supremacy. 

A  manual  that  was  essentially  a  revision  of  the  Six 
Articles,  prepared  in  part  by  Cranmer  and  carefully  con- 


The  Six  Articles.  i8i 

sidered  both  by  Convocation  and  the  King,  was  pubHshed 
in  the  spring  of  1543/  It  differed  from  the  former  manual 
in  that  it  distinctly  taught  the  doctrines  of  Transubstan- 
tiation,  the  Invocation  of  Saints,  and  the  Celibacy.  "It 
may  be  said  that  it  very  accurately  represented  the  the- 
ology of  the  majority  of  Englishmen  in  the  year  1543. 
For  king  and  people  vi^ere  not  very  far  apart.  They  both 
clung  to  medieval  theology;  and  they  both  detested  the 
Papacy  and  wished  the  clergy  to  be  kept  in  due  subordi- 
nation. There  was  a  widespread  and  silent  movement  to- 
wards an  Evangelical  Reformation  always  making  itself 
apparent  when  least  expected ;  but  probably  three- fourths 
of  the  people  had  not  felt  it  during  the  reign  of  Henry. 
It  needed  Mary's  burnings  in  Smithfield  and  the  fears  of 
a  Spanish  overlord,  before  the  leaven  could  leaven  the 
whole  lump."-  /While  in  a  general  way  this  summing  up 
of  conditions  at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  is 
correct,  we  must  not  lose  sight  of  the  effect  that  the  action 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  (1545)  had,  both  upon  the  king 
and  the  English  people,  Henry  was  not  only  strengthened 
in  his  resolution  to  withstand  the  reasserted  supremacy 
of  Rome,  but  even  offered  to  unite  in  a  "League  Chris- 
tian" with  the  Lutheran  princes  of  Germany.  At  the  sug- 
gestion of  Cranmer  he  allowed  the  Mass  to  be  changed 
into  a  Communion  Service.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the 
leader  of  the  Roman  Catholic  nobility,  was  locked  within 
a  traitor's  cell  In  the  tower,  and  his  son,  the  Earl  of  Sur- 
rey, sent  to  the  block. 

'^A  Necessary  Doctrine  and  Erudition  for  any  Christian  Man; 
set  forth  by  the  King's  Majesty  of  England. 

^Lindsay.     History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  IT,  pp.  349,  350. 


i82       •  The  Reformation. 

The  last  scene  in  the  Hfe  of  the  man  whose  iniperiuus 
will  and  selfish  ambitions  freed  England  from  papal  pre- 
tensions and  the  supremacy  of  Rome,  was  in  keeping  with 
a  career  that  in  its  strange  mingling  of  strength,  weakness 
and  cruel  actions,  has  received  such  differing  verdicts 
from  the  pen  of  historians.  As  the  shadows  were  falling 
over  the  streets  of  London  on  the  evening  of  Jan.  28, 
1547,  the  watchers  by  the  bedside  of  Henry  VIII.  saw 
that  the  end  was  near  at  hand.  At  his  request  Cranmer 
was  summoned.  When  the  bishop  reached  the  palace  the 
King,  though  conscious,  was  speechless.  Cranmer  ''speak- 
ing comfortably  to  him,  desired  him  to  give  some  token 
that  he  put  his  trust  in  God  through  Jesus  Christ ;  there- 
with the  king  wTung  hard  the  archbishop's  hand,  and  ex- 
pired."^ 

Edward  the  Sixth  was  but  nine  years  old  when  he  suc- 
ceeded his  father.  His  brief  life  gave  but  little  oppor- 
tunity for  personal  influence.  So  far  as  it  was  exerted 
he  strengthened  the  hands  of  those  who  upheld  the  divine 
rights  of  kings,  and  he  did  all  that  lay  in  his  power  to  en- 
courage the  Protestant  leaders  and  exclude  Mary  and 
Elizabeth  from  succeeding  him  on  the  throne.  The  politi- 
cal leadership  of  these  years  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Dukes  of  Somerset  and  Northumberland.  Cranmer 
guided  the  strong  current  that  set  in  favor  of  Protestant- 
ism. He  was  especially  active  in  the  revisions  that  gave 
to  the  Church  of  England  and  the  American  Episcopal 
Church  the  Prayer  Book,  that  for  four  centuries  has  led 
the  public  and  private  devotions  of  their  great  host  of 
communicants.     Many  whose  connection  has  been  with 

'^Strype's  Life  of  Cranmer,  Vol.  I,  p.  199. 


Repeal  oi^  the  Six  Articles.  1S3 

other  communions  have  given  heartfelt  response  to  the 
words  of  the  EngHsh  historian.  '*As  the  translation  of 
the  Bible  bears  upon  it  the  imprint  of  the  mind  of  Tyndal, 
so,  while  the  Church  of  England  remains,  the  image  of 
Cranmer  will  be  seen  reflected  on  the  calm  surface  of  the 
Liturgy.  The  most  beautiful  portions  of  it  are  transla- 
tions from  the  Breviary;  yet  the  same  prayers  translated 
by  others  would  not  be  those  which  chime  like  church 
bells  in  the  ears  of  the  English  child.  The  translations 
and  the  addresses  which  are  original,  have  the  same  sil- 
very melody  of  language,  and  breathe  the  same  simplicity 
of  spirit."^ 

Very  different  are  the  verdicts  that  time  has  past  upon 
the  characters  of  the  two  great  political  leaders  of  the 
reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth.  Somerset  was  the  victim  of 
the  unscrupulous  and  treacherous  Northumberland.  ''It 
is  well  to  remember,"  says  Professor  Lindsay,  "in  these 
days  when  the  noble  character  of  the  Duke  of  Somerset 
has  received  a  tardy  recognition,  that  John  Knox,  no 
mean  judge  of  men,  never  joined  in  the  praise  of  North- 
umberland, greatly  preferred  his  predecessor,  although 
his  advance  in  the  path  of  Reformation  had  been  slower 
and  much  more  cautious."- 

The  repeal  of  the  "Six  Articles"  and  the  treason  laws 
brought  back  to  England  many  of  the  refugees  who  had 
found  a  home  in  Germany  and  Switzerland.  The  vic- 
tories won  by  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  led  a  large  number 
of  continental  Protestants  to  seek  refuge  in  England  from 
the  penalties  of  the  Interim.    Some  of  these  men  found 

^Froud's.    Edward  the  Sixth,  Everyman's  Library,  p.  237. 
^History  of  the  Reforination,  Vol.  II,  p.  359, 


1S4  The  Reformation. 

places  as  teachers  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and  their 
influence  became  a  leavening  power.  The  New  Learning 
penetrated  into  every  class  in  society.  Edition  after  edi- 
tion of  the  Bible  found  ready  sale.  In  sympathy  with  the 
tide  of  reformation  Northumberland  and  the  Council  de- 
prived the  Romanist  prelates  of  their  sees.  These  places 
were  filled  by  men  like  Coverdale  and  Ridley.  John 
Knox,  but  recently  from  the  French  galley,  where  he  had 
been  held  prisoner  after  the  seizure  of  the  garrison  of  St. 
Andrews,  was  offered  the  bishopric  of  Rochester  but  pre- 
ferred his  duties  as  onp  of  the  King's  preachers. 

The  act  of  parliameht  that  enforced  the  use  of  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer^  did  away  with  all  reference  to  a 
propitiatory  Mass.  The  w^ord  table  is  used  instead  of 
altar.  Minister  and  priest  were  employed  as  equivalent 
terms.  The  communion  table  was  removed  from  the  east 
end  of  the  church  and  placed  within  the  chancel.  The 
Ten  Commandments  were  read  for  the  first  time.  Sev- 
eral rubrics  were  omitted  and  changes  made  in  the  serv- 
ices for  baptism,  confirmation  and  ordination.  vSome  of 
the  ardent  Reformers  even  desired  to  do  away  with  the 
rubric  that  required  communicants  to  receive  the  elements 
kneeling.  The  most  important  change  was  that  made  in 
the  w^ords  addressed  to  the  partaking  communicants.  In 
the  First  Prayer  Book  the  words  were :  "When  the  priest 
delivereth  the  sacrament  of  the  Body  of  Christ,  he  shall 
say  to  every  one  these  words :  The  Body  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  ivhich  was  given  for  thee,  preserve  thy  body 
and  soul  unto  everlasting  life.  And  the  minister  deliver- 
ing the  sacrament  of  the  Blood  and  giving  every  one  once 

iThe  Second  Prayer  Book  of  King  Edivard. 


Ci,osiNG  Days  of  thk  Rrion  or  Edward  VI.     185 

to  drink  and  no  more,  shall  say:  The  Blood  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  zvhich  zms  shed  for  thee,  preserve  thy  body 
and  soul  unto  everlasting  life." 

In  the  Second  Prayer  Book  the  rubric  read  as  follows : 
"Then  the  minister  when  he  delivereth  the  bread,  shall 
say:  'Take  and  eat  this  in  remernbrance  that  Christ  died 
for  thee,  and  feed  on  Him  in  thy  heart  by  faith  and  with 
thanksgiving.'  And  the  minister  that  delivereth  the  cup 
shall  say:  'Drink  this  in  remembrance  that  Christ's  blood 
zvas  shed  for  thee  and  be  thankful.' " 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  these  words  are  to-day  re- 
peated by  tens  of  thousands  of  ministers  to  kneeling  com- 
municants at  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in 
churches  throughout  the  United  States  representing  more 
than  one-half  of  the  eighteen  millions  and  over,  enrolled 
as  members  of  Churches  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Federal 
Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America.^ 

The  closing  days  of  the  brief  reign  of  Edward  VL  were 
marked  by  conflicting  and  irritating  influences  that,  as 
conditions  favored,  kindled  the  lurid  flames  of  Smithfield 
and  gave  the  name  of  "Bloody  Mary"  to  the  daughter 
of  Henry  VIII.  and  Catherine  of  Arragon.  In  times 
when  we  can  look  dispassionately  into  the  records  of 
these  sad  years  in  English  history,  we  discover  that  the 
actors  in  this  drama  were  none  of  them  free  from  blame. 
The  zeal  of  some  of  the  reformers,  fanned  into  white  heat 
by  the  fiery  spirit  of  refugees  who  had  fled  from  the  Con- 
tinent to  escape  the  persecution  of  Rome,  was  so  icono- 
clastic in  its  action  that  a  reaction  of  popular  feeling  fol- 

^This  statement  includes  the  membership  of  all  branches  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Re- 
formed Episcopal  Church. 


i86  Thi:  Reformation. 

lowed.  Agrarian  troubles  that  were  the  source  of  great 
distress  in  the  rural  countries,  combined  with  the  fierce 
political  struggles  of  which  Somerset  and  Northumber-- 
land  were  the  leading  figures,  were  potent  factors  in 
bringing  about  a  situation  that  lit  the  skies  of  England 
with  the  flames  that  consumed  the  "earthly  tabernacles" 
of  the  martyr  host  wdio  for  Christ's  sake,  in  loyalty  of 
faith  and  confession,  gave  their  bodies  to  be  burned. 

The  schemes  of  ambitious  prelates  and  statesmen  by 
which  they  hoped  to  place  Lady  Jane  Grey,  the  daughter 
of  a  Margaret,  the  eldest  sister  of  Henry  VIII.,  upon  the 
throne  came  to  nought.  To  their  surprise  the  people  of 
England  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  daughter  of  Cather- 
ine of  Arragon.  Mary  was  a  devout  Catholic.  Her  one 
overruling  purpose  and  desire  was  to  turn  back  the  tide 
that  had  swept  away  the  old  foundations  and  bring  Eng- 
land back  again  into  the  Roman  communion.  We  must 
not  forget  that  great  multitudes  of  the  people  and  many 
of  the  nobility  still  clung  to  the  old  Church.  They  shared 
to  a  large  extent  in  the  feeling  that  clamored  for  reform 
of  the  monasteries.  They  were  ready  to  strengthen  the 
throne  against  the  arrogant  supremacy  of  Rome,  but  they 
still  clung  to  the  old  forms  of  worship  and  symbols  of 
faith  and  deplored  the  innovations  that  swept  away  the 
former  landmarks. 

Had  Mary  and  her  advisers  been  satisfied  to  act  a  me- 
diating part  in  these  troubled  days  the  course  of  history 
might,  at  least  for  a  time,  have  turned  into  its  ancient 
channels.  But  this  was  not  to  be.  Her  Roman  faith  and 
training,  combined  with  bitter  resentment  and  memories 
of  her  father's  treatment  of  her  mother,  strengthened  the 
firm  wn'll  that  sent  Lady  Jane  to  her  execution,  and  fal- 


Thk  Rricn  of  Qur;i^N  ]\Tarv.  187 

tered  not  in  the  purpose  to  destroy  the  fabric  of  Prot- 
estantism that  had  been  so  quickly  reared.  At  the  time 
of  her  coronation  (October  i,  1553,)  the  first  Parliament 
that  met  four  days  later  disclosed  the  fluctuating  state  of 
public  opinion.  Mary  found  herself  '*in  the  anomalous 
position  of  being  the  supreme  head  of  the  Church  in  Eng- 
land while  she  herself  devoutly  believed  in  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Bishop  of  Rome.  The  title  and  the  powers  it 
gave  were  useful  to  restore  by  royal  proclamation  the 
medieval  ritual  and  worship,  and  Mass  was  reintroduced 
in  December."^ 

The  marriage  of  Mary  with  Philip  of  Spain  was  at- 
tended by  an  outburst  of  popular  indignation.  *'In  Sep- 
tember (1553)  the  pronouncedly  Protestant  Bishops  who 
had  returned  to  England  to  face  the  storm,  Cranmer,  Rid- 
ley, Coverdale,  Latimer  were  ejected  and  imprisoned ;  the 
Protestant  refugees  from  France  and  Germany  and  many 
of  the  eminent  Protestant  leaders  had  sought  safety  on 
the  Continent ;  the  deprived  Romanist  Bishops,  Gardiner, 
Heath,  Bonner,  Day  had  been  reinstated ;  and  the  vener- 
able Bishop  Tunstall,  who  had  acted  as  Wolsey's  ambas- 
sador at  the  famous  Diet  of  Worms,  had  been  placed  in 
the  See  of  Durham."-  With  a  hand  and  heart  that  was 
true  to  her  heritage,  Mary  quelled  uprisings  and  sent  to 
the  block  not  only  Lady  Jane  Grey  but  proud  members  of 
the  nobility.  Had  the  advice  of  Charles  V.  been  followed 
the  Princess  Elizabeth  would  have  met  the  same  fate. 

Passing  over  the  efforts  that  were  made  by  Mary  and 
the  King  consort  to  secure  peace  with  Rome  we  quickly 

^Lindsay.    History  of  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  370. 
2Ibid.  p.  731. 


i88  Tpie:  Reformation. 

come  to  the  culmination  of  this  drama  in  which  the  spirit 
that  invented  the  instruments  of  torture  used  to  enforce 
the  decrees  of  the  Inquisition,  leaped  with  tiger-like  feroc- 
ity upon  the  men  who  had  led  the  forces  of  Protestant- 
ism in  the  days  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  In  this 
company  of  ''noble  martyrs''  were  a  multitude  of  men 
and  women  some  of  whose  names  we  do  not  know. 
"Faithful  unto  death,"  they  are  ''written  in  the  Lamb's 
Book  of  Life."  Strype,  in  his  catalogue  of  the  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty-eight  persons  who  were  burned  during 
the  reign  of  Mary,  adds,  "besides  those  who  dyed  of 
famyne  in  sondry  prisons."^  We  get  glimpses  of  these 
dungeon  cells  sufficient  to  reveal  unspeakable  suffering. 
In  many  cases  the  stake  must  have  been  looked  forward 
to  as  a  welcome  release. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  a  spirit  of  intolerance  that 
could  mete  out  such  punishment  to  men  and  women  who 
held  to  the  great  verities  of  Christian  faith  but  denied  the 
dogmas  of  Purgatory  and  the  Mass,  holding  "that  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  were  the  Sacraments  instituted 
by  Christ."  John  Rogers,  who  had  aided  Tyndale  in  his 
translation  of  the  Bible,  was  burned  February  4,  1555. 
The  French  ambassador  reported  to  his  royal  master 
that  the  crowd  cheered  the  heretic  martyr  on  his  way  to 
the  stake  "as  if  he  were  going  to  his  wedding."  It  was 
the  rumble  of  another  swift  coming  change  that  forever 
was  to  make  England  and  English  Protestantism  the  leader 
of  a  new  democracy  that  should  battle  for  freedom  of 
conscience  and  liberty  of  thought  and  turn  back  the  faith 
of  men  to  the  days  of  Pentecost  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church. 

^  Strype.     Memorials,  Ecclesiastical  and  Civil. 


TiiK  Martyr  Divath  oi"  CranmivR.  189 

We  come  now  to  the  closing  scene  in  the  life  of  Thomas 
Cranmer,  the  great  ecclesiastical  leader  in  the  days  that 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of  England.  INIary 
received  her  orders  from  Rome.  The  aged  bishop,  so  in- 
tensely hated  by  the  arrogant  prelates  whose  power  he 
had  weakened  by  sturdy  strokes  at  the  very  root  of  their 
existence,  "was  found  guilty  of  contumacy  and  the  com- 
mand went  forth  that  he  was  to  be  deposed,  degraded,  and 
punished  as  a  heretic."  The  story  of  the  closing  days  of 
Cranmer  may  well  be  transcribed  to  these  pages  as  they 
find  vivid  narration  from  the  pen  of  John  Richard  Green. ^ 

''The  moral  cowardice  which  Cranmer  had  displayed  in 
his  miserable  compliance  with  the  lust  and  despotism  of 
Henry  displayed  itself  again  in  six  successive  recantations 
by  which  he  had  hoped  to  purchase  pardon.  But  pardon 
was  impossible ;  and  Cranmer's  strangely  mingled  nature 
found  a  power  in  its  very  weakness  when  he  was  brought 
into  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  at  Oxford  to  repeat  his  re- 
cantation on  the  way  to  the  stake.  'Now,'  ended  his  ad- 
dress to  the  hushed  congregation  before  him,  "now  I  come 
to  the  great  thing  that  troubleth  my  conscience  more  than 
any  other  thing  that  ever  I  said  or  did  in  my  life,  and 
that  is  the  setting  abroad  of  writings  contrary  to  the 
truth,  which  here  I  now  renounce  and  refuse  as  things 
written  by  my  hand  contrary  to  the  truth  which  I  thought 
in  my  heart,  and  written  for  fear  of  death  to  save  my  life, 
if  it  might  be.  And,  for  as  much  as  my  hand  offended 
in  writing  contrary  to  my  heart,  my  hand  therefore  shall 
be  the  first  punished ;  for  if  I  come  to  the  fire,  it  shall  be 
the  first  burned.'  'This  was  the  hand  that  wrote  it,'  he 
again  exclaimed  at  the  stake,  'therefore  it  shall    suffer 

iHistory  of  the  HngHsli  People,  Vol.  I,  pp.  462,  463. 


igo  The  Rei^ormation. 

first  punishment ;'  and  holding  it  steadily  in  the  flames  'he 
never  stirred  or  cried'  till  life  was  gone. 

"It  was  with  the  unerring  instinct  of  a  popular  move- 
ment, that,  among  a  crowd  of  far  more  heroic  sufferers, 
the  Protestants  fixed,  in  spite  of  his  recantations,  on  the 
martyrdom  of  Cranmer  as  the  death  blow  to  Catholicism 
in  England.  For  one  man  who  felt  within  him  the  joy  of 
Rowland  Taylor  at  the  prospect  of  the  stake,  there  were 
thousands  who  felt  the  shuddering  dread  of  Cranmer. 
The  triumphant  cry  of  Latimer  could  reach  only  hearts  as 
bold  as  his  own ;  but  the  sad  pathos  of  the  primate's  hu- 
miliation and  repentance  struck  chords  of  sympathy  and 
pity  in  the  hearts  of  all.  It  is  from  that  moment  that  we 
trace  the  bitter  remembrance  of  the  blood  shed  in  the 
cause  of  Rome;  which,  however,  partial  and  unjust  it 
must  seem  to  an  historic  observer,  still  lies  graven  deep 
in  the  temper  of  the  English  people," 

A  temper  that,  we  may  truthfully  add,  was  not  lost  in 
the  life  of  the  Puritan  emigration  of  the  Seventeenth  Cen- 
tury that  laid  the  foundations  of  the  religious  and  national 
life  that  controls  to-day  the  destinies  of  North  America. 

Following  the  death  of  Cranmer,  Cardinal  Pole  be- 
came the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  His  time  serving 
career,  with  its  shifting  policies,  is  a  matter  of  historic 
record.  He  was  the  chief  adviser  of  Mary.  The  fires  at 
Smithfield  still  burned.  Every  effort  was  made  to  restore 
confiscated  lands  and  rebuild  the  monasteries.  But  public 
sentiment  resented  this  action.  The  new  Pope  Paul  IV. 
detested  Philip,  who  had  deserted  the  wife  whose  affec- 
tion clung  to  him  to  the  last.  He  disliked  Pole  and  the 
lack  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Pope  filled  Mary's 
cup  of  misery,  full  to  the  brim.  Long  broken  in  health 
the  end  came  November  17,  1558. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TflD  RliFORMATlON  IN  ENGLAND  DUKING  Tlllv  REIGN   OF 

QuEE^N  Elizabeth. 

By  reason  of  their  exalted  station  and  influence,  kings 
and  queens  often  fill  a  place  in  the  narration  of  history 
that  overrates  their  influence  as  factors  in  movements  that 
change  the  currents  of  national  life.  As  the  fires  of 
Smithfield  die  down  and  the  half  crazed,  fanatical  Mary 
goes  to  her  grave  execrated  and  unmourned  by  the  great 
body  of  the  English  people,  let  us  rapidly  look  back  over 
the  centuries  that  prepared  England  for  the  reign  of  the 
proud,  wilful,  masculine  daughter  of  Henry  VHI.  and 
Anne  Boleyn. 

The  suns  of  a  thousand  years  had  risen  and  set  since 
Gregory  discovered  the  fair-haired  Saxon  lads  in  the 
slave  mart  at  Rome.  In  all  the  vast  missionary  work 
that  faithful  priests  carried  forward  with  implicit  obedi- 
ence under  the  Papal  See,  none  bore  richer  and  more 
beneficial  fruit  than  the  work  inaugurated  by  St.  Au- 
gustine in  Britain.  It  was  the  labors  of  these  earnest 
men  that  lifted  the  shadows  of  pagan  superstition  from 
the  dull,  brute,  minds  of  the  conquered  natives  of  the 
soil  and  the  Saxon  marauders  who  had  crossed  the  stormy 
channel  from  their  rude  forest  homes  in  North  Germany. 
In  this  story  that  tells  of  human  weakness,  prostituting 
and  poisoning  the  very  sources  of  Christian  life,  we  must 
not  forget  the  blessings  and  guidance  that  the  Roman 
Church  in  the  early  centuries  gave  in  the  conversion  and 
uplifting  of  the  barbarian  races  of  the  North.    Her  mis- 

191 


192  Thk  Reformation. 

sionaries  carried  the  uplifted  Cross  into  every  nook  and 
corner  of  the  then  forest  covered  and  untilled  lands  where 
dwelt  the  fierce  tribes  whose  massed  forces  in  their  brute 
strength  had  overrun  and  destro3^ed  imperial  Rome  and 
made  possible  the  rearing  of  the  ecclesiastical  structure 
that  was  to  be  the  dominant  influence  in  coming  cen- 
turies. The  ''old,  old"  story  of  the  "Man  of  Gahlee"  had 
subdued  rough  pagan  hearts.  These  fathers  and  mothers 
of  the  Teutonic  races  gave  birth  to  leaders  of  a  democ- 
racy, who,  in  due  time,  broke  the  shackles  alike  of  feu- 
dalism and  papal  supremacy.  They  were  the  converts  of 
a  Church  whose  fountain  head  we  trace  back  to  Apostolic 
days. 

Many  a  traveller,  looking  out  over  the  broken  columns 
and  triumphal  arches  of  ancient  Rome  has  shared  in  the 
feelings  so  vividly  pictured  in  the  pages  of  Gibbon.  Mul- 
titudes of  travellers  from  the  New  World,  visiting  for 
the  first  time  Netley  Abbey,  or  some  other  ruined  Eng- 
lish monastery,  has  been  deeply  moved.  There  have  come 
thoughts  of  thanksgiving  for  the  faith  that  impelled  men 
to  carry  the  Gospel  tidings  into  this  land,  now  so  fair,  but 
then  rude  and  desolate,  the  dwelling  place  of  paganism. 
How  real  and  dominant  was  the  Christian  faith  that 
illuminated  these  ignorant  hearts.  It  may  appear  to  us, 
in  our  boasted  wisdom,  a  very  childish,  limited  vision  ; 
but  it  wrought  mighty  changes.  It  lifted  the  imagination 
of  men,  whose  ancestors  were  dwellers  in  caves  and  rude 
hewers  of  stone,  to  heights  where  they  reared  such  walls 
and  domes  and  spires  that  men  gaze  with  wonder  at  the 
handiwork  of  genius,  inspired  by  spiritual  vision ;  and 
worship  at  altars  whose  foundations  were  laid  by  humble, 
devout  hands  centuries  before  the  discovery  of  America. 


The  Conversion  oi?  Britain  to  Christianity.  193 

But  spiritual  pride  and  idleness,  born  of  ill-gotten 
bounty,  wrought  mischief.  The  day  came  when  a  proud, 
wilful  king  was  to  be  providentially  used  as  an  instru- 
ment in  razing  to  the  ground  the  walls  of  monasteries  that 
had  become  foul  breeding  places  of  sin.  But  we  ought  not 
to  forget  the  days  when  devout  men  dwelt  within  their 
walls ;  men  who  chanted  the  prayers  and  hymns  of  Au-- 
gustine  and  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  with  spiritual  fervor; 
men  who  went  forth  to  daily  toil  that  subdued  the  land 
and  made  it  bud  and  blossom  as  the  rose ;  men  who  were 
the  teachers  of  the  people  in  the  years  that  gave  birth  to 
the  English  language  and  its  marvellous  heritage  of  lit- 
erature. Protestantism  did  not  spring  out  of  the  ground. 
It  was  a  part  of  that  struggle  for  democracy  as  opposed 
to  monarchical  principles,  that  goes  back  in  its  beginnings 
to  the  teachings  of  Christ  and  the  day  of  Pentecost.  The 
history  of  the  English  people  is  the  history  of  the  vic- 
tories of  a  Christian  democracy.  We  dwell  upon  this  fact 
because  of  its  significance  in  the  life  of  Christianity  and 
the  continuity  of  faith,  and  its  relation  to  the  history  of 
the  Teutonic  races  and  nations  whose  life  and  institutions 
have  come  to  their  highest  realization  in  the  United  States 
and  the  British  Dominion  of  North  America.  Further  on 
we  shall  refer  to  the  profound  significance  of  these  facts 
of  history  in  their  bearing  upon  those  questions  of  Chris- 
tian Unity  and  Church  Unity  that  are  matters  of  crucial 
importance  in  this  Twentieth  Century. 

Cathedral  towers,  university  cloisters,  palace  walls  and 
monasteries,  well  tilled  fields,  and  growing  towns,  with 
their  signs  of  material  wealth,  give  evidence  of  the  civil- 
izing, uplifting  power  of  Christianity  in  the  centuries 
before  the  full  dawn  of  the  Reformation.  But  these 
13 


194  The  Reformation. 

were  the  outward  signs  of  the  struggles  through  which 
democracy  came  to  its  leadership  in  Church  and  State. 
The  Norman  conquest  mingled  gentle  blood  with  the 
tough  fibre  of  S^xon  strength.  The  French  and  Latin 
tongues,  woven  into  the  Anglo-Saxon  dialect,  gave  that 
medium  of  speech  and  letters  that  made  possible  the  work 
of  John  Wiclif  and  scholars  who  were  the  advance  guard 
of  the  New  Learning.  Common  interests  and  common 
enemies  at  last  welded  together  Norman  and  Saxon  life. 
The  Thirteenth  Century  begins  to  shape  the  constitution 
of  unwritten  law  that  lies  to-day  at  the  foundation  of 
English  and  American  democratic  institutions. 

The  Great  Charter  (121 5)  by  which  the  rights  of  the 
people  were  confirmed,  established  the  Parliament  that 
enforced  and  sustained  them.  In  all  this  history  we  dis- 
cover a  providential  preparation  for  the  great  change  that 
was  to  destroy  papal  supremacy;  give  an  open  Bible  to 
the  people ;  quicken  intellectual  and  moral  life ;  and  sup- 
press sources  of  ecclesiastical  corruption.  In  brief  sur- 
vey, this  is  the  story  of  years,  filled  with  struggle,  and 
often  dark  with  battle  storms,  that  made  possible  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  under  Henry  the  VIII.  and 
so  welded  the  temper  of  the  people  in  the  fires  of  Smith- 
field  that  the  power  of  Rome  was  forever  broken. 

The  Princess  Elizabeth  succeeded  to  the  throne  of 
England  at  a  time  when  her  masculine  strength  of  mind 
and  will,  combined  with  an  intuitive  tactfulness,  enabled 
her  to  make  wise  use  of  the  shifting  winds  of  political  and 
ecclesiastical  life.  Proud  and  imperious,  with  a  beauty 
of  person  that  gave  a  queenly  stamp  to  her  every  action, 
Elizabeth  kept  such  a  firm  hold  upon  state  affairs  that  her 
decisions  did  much  to  guide  England  through  days  that 


The  Genesis  of  Puritan  Lii^e.  195 

were  filled  with  stormy  conflicts  on  the  Continent  that 
threatened,  in  connection  with  the  plottings  of  the  Queen 
of  Scotland  and  Roman  Catholic  emissaries  at  home  and 
abroad,  to  undermine  the  throne  to  which  they,  and  Rome, 
said  she  had  no  legitimate  right.  The  policies  of  Eliza- 
beth were  dictated  by  neither  strong  convictions  or  a  de- 
sire to  further  the  interests  of  the  Protestant  party.  The 
lips  that  again  and  again  opened  to  break  in  bursts  of 
wrathful  profanity  at  the  council  board  surrounded  by 
venerable  prelates,  revealed  a  heart  that  had  little  space 
for  religious  feeling  or  convictions.  Wisely  she  sought 
the  aid  of  men  like  Cecil  and  Archbishop  Parker.  They, 
and  men  of  kindred  spirit,  were  the  leaders  who  during 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  laid  firm  the  foundations  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and  guided  civil  and  ecclesiastical  af- 
fairs. Protestantism  came  more  and  more  to  the  front  in 
the  life  of  the  people.  It  was  the  spring  time  hour  of  a 
new  democracy  that  found  its  seed  thought  in  the  Old  as 
well  as  the  New  Testament;  thought  and  principles  that 
were  as  iron  in  the  blood,  that  produced  what  Lord 
Macauley  named  as  "the  most  remarkable  body  of  men, 
perhaps,  the  world  has  ever  seen," — the  Puritans  of  Eng- 
land and  Scotland. 

The  early  years  of  Elizabeth's  reign  were  marked  by  a 
trend  of  civil  affairs  and  material  prosperity  that  strength- 
ened the  hold  of  Protestantism  on  the  life  of  the  English 
people.  Its  young  intellectual  life  was  in  sympathy  with 
the  new  democracy.  The  daughters  of  the  nobility,  and  ol 
prosperous  middle  class  homes  that  were  enjoying  the 
prosperity  that  attended  the  increase  of  commerce  and 
manufactures,  emulated  the  example  of  the  Queen  and 
many  became  proficient   scholars  in  Latin,   Greek,   and 


196  The  Reformation. 

Italian.  They  were  for  the  most  part  the  children  of 
Protestant  homes  and  devout  members  of  the  Church  of 
England.  The  indignation  that  had  flamed  into  a  white 
heat  at  the  burning  of  Cranmer  was  widespread,  but  con- 
ditions existed  that  only  astute  statesmanship  could  con- 
trol. 

Elizabeth  was  singularly  fortunate  in  the  choice  of 
Cecil  as  her  minister.  He  "was  eminently  a  safe  man, 
not  an  original  thinker,  but  a  counsellor  of  unrivaled  wis- 
dom." The  encomium  to  his  worth  from  the  queen  her- 
self was  rightly  won.  "This  judgment,"  she  said,  "I  have 
of  you  that  you  will  not  be  corrupted  with  any  manner 
of  gifts,  and  that  you  will  be  faithful  to  the  State."  Un- 
like his  royal  mistress,  whom  he  so  faithfully  served,  Cecil 
had  convictions  and  the  courage  to  assert  them.  If  he 
was  unwilling  to  jeopardize  the  safety  and  prosperity  of 
England  by  aiding  the  Dutch  and  French  Protestants  in 
the  struggles  that  threatened  their  existence,  he  did  not 
take  counsel  with  timid  fears  in  the  conduct  of  national 
affairs.  Again  and  again  he  struck  with  a  heavy  hand  as 
he  felt  the  occasion  demanded.  This  was  illustrated  in 
the  stern  decree  that  sent  Mary,  queen  of  Scots,  to  the 
scaffold.  It  was  this,  and  other  stern  actions,  that  broke 
the  plans  and  spirit  of  traitors  who,  in  the  interest  of 
Rome,  plotted  the  assassination  of  Elizabeth  and  the 
wresting  of  the  Crown  from  the  control  of  Protestant 
leaders.  As  the  days  went  on  Cecil  became  more  earnest 
in  his  adherence  to  the  Protestant  faith. 

It  is  evident  that  Elizabeth  at  the  time  of  her  corona- 
tion, if  not  an  ardent  Protestant,  had  little  love  for  Rome. 
At  this  period  the  ceremonials  of  the  Roman  Church,  re-- 
vived  by  Mary,  were  conducted  in  the  churches  by  the 


The:  Acts  oi^  Supremacy  and  Uniformity.      197 

bishops  she  had  appointed  and  the  priests  whom  they 
controlled.  The  newly  crowned  queen  "went  to  Mass,  but 
asked  the  Bishop  officiating  not  to  elevate  the  Host  for 
adoration ;  and  when  he  refused  to  comply,  she  and  her 
ladies  swept  out  of  church  immediately  after  the  Gospel 
was  read.  Parliament  was  opened  in  the  usual  manner 
with  the  performance  of  the  Mass,  but  the  Queen  did  not 
appear  until  it  was  over;  and  then  her  procession  was 
preceded  by  a  choir  which  sang  hymns  in  English.  When 
the  Abbot  of  Westminster  met  her  in  ecclesiastical  pro- 
cession with  the  usual  candles  sputtering  in  the  hands  of 
his  clergy,  the  Queen  shouted,  'Away  with  these  torches ; 
WQ  have  light  enough.'  "^ 

The  Spanish  ambassador,  early  in  her  reign,  reported 
to  his  royal  master  that  the  Queen  "is  every  day  standing 
up  against  religion  (Roman)  more  openly  and  all  the 
heretics  who  had  escaped  are  beginning  to  flock  back 
again  from  Germany."  At  this  time  the  clergy,  appointed 
during  the  reaction  under  Mary,  taught  transubstantia- 
tion,  offered  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  and  upheld  the  su- 
premacy of  the  Pope.  Parliament  however,  through  the 
House  of  Commons,  reflected  popular  opinion  and  feel- 
ing. In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  bishops  appointed 
by  Mary,  the  Acts  of  Supremacy  and  Uniformity  were 
adopted  and  Elizabeth  received  the  title.  Supreme  Head 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  it  was  enjoined  that  the 
communion  should  be  given  in  both  "kinds." 

The  Act  of  Uniformity  restored  the  order  of  public 
service  and  the  administration  of  ordinances  as  set  forth 
in  the  "Book  of  Common  Prayer"  authorized  by  Parlia- 

^Ivindsay.    History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  pp.  389,  390. 


198  The;  Reformation. 

ment  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  Freedom  of  thought 
was  fully  granted,  but  the  line  was  drawn  hard  as  to  the 
form  of  worship.  Long  and  wearisome  discussions  de- 
layed this  enactment.  Easter  Day  (1559)  was  approach- 
ing when  the  Canon  law  required  every  one  to  attend  com- 
munion. On  this  day  "Her  Majesty  appeared  in  chapel, 
where  Mass  was  sung  in  English,  according  to  the  use  of 
her  brother  Edward."^ 

The  Act  of  Uniformity,  with  slight  changes,  restored 
the  Prayer  Book  of  1552.  Even  the  advanced  reformers 
appear  to  have  been  satisfied.  A  rubric  that  enjoined  the 
use  in  public  worship  of  vestments  in  the  early  reign  of 
Edward  VI.  was  the  cause  of  sharp  contention.  Just  how 
this  rubric  found  a  place  in  the  Elizabethan  Prayer  Book 
is  an  unsolved  mystery.  We  know  it  was  ignored  by  the 
Protestant  bishops  and,  under  their  direction,  by  the 
clergy.  Even  the  surplice  was  not  always  worn.  Drastic 
action  in  the  removal  of  ecclesiastical  "ornaments"  was 
taken.  A  letter  of  the  Spanish  Ambassador  (State 
papers,  1559,)  informs  Philip  that  "they  are  now  carry- 

^The  chronicle  further  on  says  (see  Calendar  of  State  Papers 
Venetian,  1558-80,  p.  57)  :  "Since  that  day  things  have  returned 
to  their  former  state,  though  unless  the  Almighty  stretch  forth 
His  arm  a  relapse  is  expected.  These  accursed  preachers,  who 
have  come  from  Germany,  do  not  fail  to  preach  in  their  own 
fashion,  both  in  public  and  in  private,  in  such  wise  that  they  per- 
suaded certain  rogues  to  forcibly  enter  the  church  of  St.  Mary- 
le-Bow,  in  the  middle  of  Cheapside,  and  force  the  shrine  of  the 
most  Holy  Sacrament,  breaking  the  tabernacle  and  throwing  the 
most  precious  consecrated  body  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  ground. 
They  also  destroyed  the  altar  and  the  images,  with  the  pall  and 
church  linen,,  breaking  everything  into  a  thousand  pieces.  This 
happened  this  very  night,  which  is  the  third  after  Easter." 


EngIvAnd  a  StronghoIvD  of  Protestantism.      199 

ing  out  the  law  of  Parliament  respecting  religion  with 
great  rigour.  '"  *  *  They  have  just  taken  the  crosses, 
images,  and  altars  from  St.  Paul's  and  all  the  other  Lon- 
don churches." 

In  pursuing  her  policy  of  pleasing,  as  far  as  possible, 
all  parties,  Elizabeth  permitted  the  use  of  vestments  and 
lights  on  the  altar  of  the  Royal  Chapel,  but  she  was  care- 
ful not  to  antagonize  the  influential  Lutheran  leadership 
that  was  now  active  in  Protestant  circles.  She  under- 
stood full  well  the  attitude  of  Rome.  The  Peace  of 
Augsburg  was  the  convenient  shelter  to  which  she  pur- 
posed to  flee  if  the  thunder  of  the  papal  excommunica- 
tion broke  in  upon  her  days  of  strangely  mingled  state- 
craft, intellectual  employments,  and  frivolous  pleasure. 

The  death  of  Cardinal  Pole  opened  the  way  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  Matthew  Parker  as  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury. With  his  consecration  an  end  came  to  much  of  the 
bitter  dissension  that  of  necessity  had  arisen  out  of  the 
reaction  under  Mary  that  had  reinstated  Roman  Catholic 
bishops  in  the  English  dioceses.  As  death  caused  vacan- 
cies Protestants  were  appointed  and  changes  that  were 
revolutionary  in  their  character,  were  brought  to  pass 
without  special  disturbance.  England  was  more  and 
more  becoming  a  stronghold  of  Protestantism.  EHzabeth 
and  her  chief  counsellors  wisely  recognized  the  trend  of 
popular  feeling  and  sentiment.  The  second  Parliament 
of  the  Queen's  reign  and  the  Convocation  of  1563  brought 
about  the  adoption  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles.  They 
laid  firm  the  foundations  of  the  Church  of  England.  Ma- 
terial prosperity  and  political  conditions  at  home  and 
abroad  strengthened  the  power  and  influence  of  Protest- 
antism.   A  debased  coinage,  that  had  been  the  source  of 


200  The  Reformation. 

evils  that  were  a  constant  irritant  and  menace,  was  re- 
placed with  honest  gold  and  silver.  Some  of  it  not  alto- 
gether honestly  filched  from  Philip's  treasure  ships  laden 
with  the  spoils  of  the  New  World.  Thriving  commerce 
and  manufactures  and  agriculture  gave  shipowners,  mer- 
chants, farmers,  and  tradesmen  the  wealth  that  built 
streets  of  stately  houses  in  London  and  reared  country 
homes  whose  palatial  architecture  and  beautiful  gardens 
vied  with  the  royal  palaces  that  Elizabeth  loved  to  build 
and  visit  with  her  gay  retinue  of  flattering  courtiers. 
The  adventurous  voyages  of  Drake,  and  seamen  of  like 
spirit,  opened  gateways  to  the  outer  world  that  kindled 
the  imagination  of  a  generation  that  finds  in  Shakespeare 
the  consumate  flowering  of  its  intellectual  quickening  and 
genius. 

But  there  were  deeper  influences  than  these  working 
with  a  mighty  leavening  power  in  the  life  of  England. 
The  Bible  became  the  one  book  of  the  people.  It  was  the 
fountain  of  devotional  exercises  in  church  and  home.  Its 
revealed  truths,  as  taught  in  history  and  biography,  and 
lifted  in  the  strains  of  sublime  Psalmody  and  prophecy; 
the  marvellous  messages  uttered  by  the  wayside  and  sea- 
shore by  the  Divine  Teacher  who  spoke  as  man  never 
spoke — were  reverently  accepted  as  the  bread  and  water 
of  life ;  food  that  nourished  the  spiritual  life  of  fathers 
and  mothers  whose  sons  and  daughters  were  to  be  the 
Puritan  leaders  of  democracy  both  in  the  Old  and  New 
World.  Of  this  life  and  the  part  it  has  played  in  the 
history  of  American  Christianity  reference  will  be  made 
in  a  later  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Thk  Re:formation  In  Scoti^and. 

Scotland  emerged  very  slowly  out  of  the  early  period 
in  which  her  kings  and  barons  struggled  for  power  in 
fierce  and  lawless  warfare.  The  feudal  assembly,  known 
as  the  Estates  of  the  Realm,  was  controlled  by  contending 
factions  whose  quarrels  robbed  it  of  stable  influence.  For 
more  than  seven  centuries  the  old  Celtic  Church  was  the 
source  not  only  of  the  religious  life  of  the  people,  but  of 
the  educational  privileges  that  taught  the  boys  and  girls 
to  read.  Every  Celtic  monastery  was  a  centre  of  educa- 
tional influence.  From  them  came  many  of  the  teachers 
who  built  up  the  reputation  of  the  older  universities  of 
the  North.  When  the  Roman  Church  supplanted  the 
Celtic  Church  its  educational  system  remained  an  active 
and  potent  force.  The  love  of  learning  found  many 
Scotch  students  in  the  crowd  of  wandering  scholars  who 
filled  the  universities  of  Europe  in  medieval  times. 

"The  country,"  says  Professor  Lindsay,  "had  been  pre- 
pared for  the  Reformation  by  the  education  of  the  peo- 
ple, especially  of  the  middle  class,  by  constant  intercourse 
between  Scotland  and  France  and  the  Low  Countries,  and 
by  the  sympathy  which  Scottish  students  had  felt  for  the 
earlier  movements  towards  Church  reform  in  England 
and  Bohemia;  while  the  wealth  and  immorality  of  the 
Romish  clergy,  the  poverty  of  the  nobility  and  landed  gen- 
try, and  the  changing  political  situation,  combined  to  give 
an  impetus  to  the  efforts  of  those  who  longed  for  a  Refor- 
mation."^ 

^lyindsay.     History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  275. 

201 


202  The)  Re^^ormation. 

The  influence  of  Wiclif  and  the  Lollards  was  widely 
felt.  As  early  as  1433,  Paul  Craw,  who  had  visited  Scot- 
land, with  the  purpose  of  advancing  the  Hussite  move- 
ment, fell  a  victim  to  the  Inquisition,  and  was  burned  at 
the  stake.  The  wealth  that  had  come  into  the  hands  of 
the  Roman  Church  attracted  into  its  service  many  of  the 
younger  sons  of  the  nobility  whose  lives  were  often 
shameful.  The  ships  that  carried  on  an  active  commerce 
with  the  Continent,  in  spite  of  the  Edicts  of  Parliament, 
hid  Lutheran  books  and  pamphlets  in  their  cargoes  that 
found  eager  buyers  and  readers.  Patrick  Hamilton,  of 
noble  lineage,  was  the  first  in  the  line  of  Scotland's  mar- 
tyrs. While  a  student  in  the  University  of  Paris  he  be- 
came interested  in  the  work  of  Luther.  On  his  return 
home  he  came  under  the  suspicion  of  the  heresy  hunters. 
Escaping  to  Germany  he  was  active  in  the  councils  of  the 
Lutheran  leaders.  His  heart  turned  homeward  with  the 
desire  to  advance  the  Reformation  in  Scotland.  His  mes- 
sage found  a  ready  welcome  but  his  voice  was  soon 
hushed  in  flames  kindled  by  the  hands  of  Romish  perse- 
cutors (February  2^,  1528).  A  long  line  of  "noble  mar- 
tyrs" are  found  in  the  years  that  follow.  In  Scotland, 
as  in  other  lands,  the  burning  of  heretics  increased  rather 
than  lessened  the  number  of  those  who  joined  the  ranks 
of  the  Reformers. 

On  the  death  of  James  V.  (1542)  his  infant  daughter, 
Mary,  became  the  Queen  of  Scotland.  Under  the  Re- 
gency the  years  are  filled  with  plots  and  counter-plots  by 
which  the  Tudor  kings  sought  to  secure  control  of  the 
country  beyond  their  northern  boundary  and  break  up 
threatening  alliances  with  France.  David  Beaton,  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  was  the  astute  leader  of  the 


George:  Wishart.  203 

French  and  Romanish  partisans  in  Scotland.  He  was  an 
instrument  ready  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  Pope  in  the 
coming  conflict  with  Henry  VHI.  In  the  struggle  for  tha 
Regency,  under  Mary,  Beaton  was  defeated  and  impris- 
oned. For  a  little  space  the  hunting  of  heretics  ceased. 
Then  came  a  period  of  truce  in  which  the  contending 
leaders  made  peace.  With  the  reconciliation  of  the  Earl 
of  Arran  and  Cardinal  Beaton  the  days  of  persecution  re- 
opened. Mary,  under  the  tutelage  of  the  French  court, 
was  being  trained  for  the  sad  after  years  of  her  unhappy 
reign. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  political  tumult  and  strife  for 
supremacy  in  the  civil  affairs  of  Scotland,  the  leaven  of  a 
pure,  spiritual  faith  was  effectively  working  in  Scottish 
homes  and  hearts.  George  Wishart,  fleeing  from  perse- 
cution, had  come  into  close  touch  with  the  leaders  of  the 
Reformation  in  England,  Germany  and  Switzerland.  Re- 
turning to  Scotland  about  1543,  he  proclaimed  his  mes- 
sage in  Montrose,  Dundee  and  other  places.  After  a 
preaching  tour  in  the  Lothans  he  was  seized  by  the  com- 
mand of  Beaton  and  after  confinement  in  the  dungeon  at 
St.  Andrews,  was  tried  in  the  cathedral  and  sent  to  the 
stake  (March  i,  1546). 

At  this  point  the  foremost  figure  in  the  history  of  the 
Reformation  in  Scotland  appears  upon  the  stage.  John 
Knox  was  the  close  companion  of  Wishart  in  his  tour  in 
the  Lothians.  The  friendship  of  these  men  was  like  that 
of  David  and  Jonathan.  The  early  life  of  Knox  is 
shrouded  in  obscurity.  We  only  know  he  enjoyed  the 
blessings  of  a  home  of  frugal  habits  and  prosperity,  based 
upon  religious  principles.  After  his  graduation  from  St. 
Andrews  we  know  little  of  his  career  for  twenty  years. 


204  'I'he:  Reformation. 

In  1543  he  signed  himself  ''minister  of  the  sacred  altar" 
under  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews.  Three  years  later 
he  was  standing  by  the  side  of  Wishart.  After  Wishart's 
execution  he  became  a  fugitive  from  the  Romish  hate  that 
planned  the  death  of  every  heretic. 

Learning  of  the  assassination  of  Cardinal  Beaton  he 
hastened  to  join  the  party  that  had  plotted  the  death  of 
this  cruel  murderer  of  men  whose  shoes  lachet  he  was 
unworthy  to  unloose.  While  making  his  home  in  the 
castle  of  St.  Andrews  Knox  taught  "John's  Gospel"  and 
had  charge  of  a  catechetical  class  of  children.  He  at  first 
declined  the  urgent  request  to  accept  ''the  public  office  and 
charge  of  preaching."  This  call  was  finally  pressed  from 
the  pulpit  itself  with  unanimous  approval.  "Whereat, 
the  said  John,  abashed,  burst  forth  in  most  abundant  tears 
and  withdrew  himself  to  his  chamber."  He  came  forth 
from  the  consecration  and  decisions  of  that  hour  changed 
in  spirit  and  filled  with  courage  that  never  faltered.  From 
that  hour  until  his  death  John  Knox,  in  his  wonderful 
ministry  and  leadership  as  a  reformer,  feared  not  the  face 
of  man. 

Taken  prisoner  when  the  garrison  of  St.  Andrews  sur- 
rendered to  the  French  fleet  (1547),  Knox  was  carried 
to  France.  With  his  companions  he  was  made  a  galley- 
slave.  For  nineteen  months  he  sat  chained  with  four  to 
six  others,  to  the  rowing  benches.  Day  and  night,  even 
when  they  slept,  they  were  chained  under  the  benches. 
Fed  with  the  poorest  food  and  placed  in  close  companion- 
ship with  the  vilest  malefactors  it  is  difficult  to  conceive 
what  the  French  Papists  could  have  done  more  to  add  to 
the  misery  of  these  innocent  prisoners.  The  narrative 
penned  by  Knox  vividly  recalls  this  terrible  experience. 


The  Leadership  o^  John  Knox.  205 

"How  long  I  continued  prisoner,  what  torment  I  sustained 
in  the  galies,  and  what  war  the  sobbes  of  my  harte,  is  now 
no  time  to  receat.  This  only  I  can  nocht  conceall,  which 
mo  than  one  have  hard  me  say,  when  the  body  was  far 
absent  from  Scotland,  that  my  assured  houp  was  in  opp 
in  audience  to  preach  in  Sauctandrois  befoir  I  depairted 
this  lyeff."^ 

Released  at  last,  Knox  began  his  great  work  as  a  leader 
and  preacher  of  the  Reformation.  In  1552  he  was  offered 
an  English  bishopric  but  declined.^  His  suggestion  se- 
cured the  Prayer  Book  rubric  which  explains  that  when 
kneeling  at  the  sacrament  is  ordered,  "No  adoration  is  in- 
tended or  ought  to  be  done."  When  Mary  came  to  the 
throne  of  England  Knox  for  a  time  tarried  in  London. 
While  there  he  "had  the  courage  to  rebuke  the  rejoicings 
of  the  crowd  at  her  (Mary's)  entry  into  the  capital — a 
fearless,  outspoken  man  who  could  always  be  depended 
on  for  doing  what  no  one  else  dared." 

We  now  find  Knox  on  the  Continent  in  consultation 
with  Calvin  at  Geneva,  and  BuUinger  at  Zurich.  With 
the  exception  of  a  brief  visit  to  Scotland  the  years  1554-58 
were  spent  on  the  continent.  He  was  forging  the  thun- 
derbolts that  were  afterwards  launched  in  asserting  the 
rights  of  the  people  to  restrain  tyrannical  sovereigns.  His 
pastorate  at  Geneva  was  a  happy  and  peaceful  one.  With 
other  scholarly  exiles  he  prepared  the  English  version  of 
the  Bible  that  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  became  "the 
household  book  of  the  English  speaking  nations."  Days 
that  were  to  be  filled  with  stormy  conflict  were  near  at 

iWorks  of  John  Knox,  I,  p.  349- 
2See  page  184. 


2o6  The  Re:formation. 

hand.  From  the  pleasant  Geneva  home  in  which  he  had 
enjoyed  the  loving  care  both  of  his  wife  and  mother, 
Knox  hurried  to  Edinburgh  in  the  spring  of  1559  and  was 
soon  in  "the  brunt  of  the  battle."  Condemned  as  an  out- 
law he  fearlessly  preached  in  the  chief  towns  of  Scotland. 
The  support  given  to  him  by  the  civic  authorities  of  St. 
Andrews,  and,  as  he  notes,  by  "the  rascal  multitude"  of 
Perth  reveals  the  temper  of  the  people.  Even  in  Edin- 
burgh the  queen  regent  permitted  an  arrangement,  under 
the  pressure  of  popular  feeling,  that  permitted  Knox  and 
his  associates  to  give  their  message  from  the  pulpits  that 
faced  crowded  congregations. 

In  the  alliance  by  which  Scotland  came  into  close  union 
with  Protestant  England  Knox  was  a  foremost  leader. 
But  it  was  his  destiny,  while  aiding  in  this  work,  "beyond 
all  other  men,  to  leave  the  stamp  of  a  more  inward  inde- 
pendence upon  his  country  and  its  history."  In  1560,  at 
the  request  of  the  Estates,  Knox  and  three  others  drafted 
a  confession  of  faith.  It  bears  the  stamp  of  his  Genevan 
training  and  ministry.  A  Calvinistic  confession  it  re- 
mained for  two  centuries  the  authorized  Scottish  creed. 
Acts  passed  at  this  time  reveal  that  Protestants  had  not 
learned  the  spirit  or  meaning  of  tolerance.  The  Pope's 
authority  and  jurisdiction  were  aboHshed  and  heavy  pen- 
alties, with  death  on  third  conviction,  were  inflicted  on 
those  who  should  attend  mass  or  even  be  present  at  it.  The 
Reformed  churches  grew  so  rapidly  that  before  the  close 
of  the  year  the  first  General  Assembly  made  up  of  their 
representatives,  became  "the  whole  Church  convened." 
Knox  was  the  chief  framer  of  the  Book  of  Discipline 
which  provided  a  rigid  Presbyterian  system  of  govern- 
ment.    Special  attention  was  given  to  the  religious  in- 


John  Knox  and  Mary,  Que:e:n  of  Scoti^and.     207 

struction  of  the  young  from  elementary  schools  up  to  the 
universities.  These  schools,  as  well  as  the  poor,  and  the 
ministers,  were  to  be  supported  from  the  ''tithes  of  yearly 
fruits."  This  plan  was  at  first  opposed  by  some  of  the 
lords  who  had  acquired  much  of  the  ancient  Church  prop- 
erty. Seven  years  later  the  Crown  acknowledged  the 
Kirk  the  only  Church  of  Scotland  with  full  jurisdiction 
over  all  outsiders.  The  stipends  of  the  ministers  of  the 
Scottish  Church  were  paid  out  of  the  "yearly  tithes"  and 
until  recent  times  the  administration  of  the  schools  and 
the  Poor  Laws  were  in  its  hands. 

When  INIary,  Queen  of  Scots,  in  1561  returned  from 
France  to  her  native  land,  she  put  forth  every  effort  to 
destroy  the  "Kirk"  that  had  so  swiftly  swept  away  the 
old  foundations.  There  are  few  episodes  of  more  dra- 
matic interest  in  the  history  of  the  Reformation  than  that 
which  tells  the  story  of  John  Knox  and  his  contention 
with  the  proud  Queen  whose  fascinating  personality  and 
urgent  appeals  could  not  swerve  him  in  the  least  from 
what  he  conceived  to  be  the  path  of  duty.  In  the  prog- 
ress of  events  there  came  an  hour  of  such  distress  that 
even  the  spirit  of  Knox  standing  in  its  shadow,  cried  out, 
"Lord  Jesus,  put  an  end  to  this  my  miserable  life,  for 
justice  and  truth  are  not  to  be  found  among  the  sons  of 
men."  During  a  visit  to  England,  where  two  of  his  sons 
were  being  educated  at  Cambridge,  word  came  to  him 
of  the  tragic  events  following  the  murder  of  Darnley. 
Returning  to  Scotland  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  As- 
sembly that  met  June  25,  1567.  His  voice  uttered  the 
pulpit  message  at  Stirling  at  the  coronation  of  James  VL, 
the  infant  son  of  the  deposed  Queen.  Parliament  again 
voted  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  engrossed  it  in  their 


2o8  The:  Reformation. 

Acts,  which  were  signed  by  the  Regent  acting  for  the 
king.  From  this  time  on  the  Reformed  Church  was  le- 
gally recognized  in  Scotland  and  its  Confession  became 
part  of  the  law  of  the  land. 

While  his  great  life  work  was  accomplished  the  figure 
of  Knox  holds  a  foremost  place  in  Scottish  history  from 
this  timxC  on  until  his  death.  A/[ary's  escape  in  1568  was 
followed  by  the  defeat  of  her  adherents  at  Langside  and 
her  long  imprisonment  and  final  execution  in  England. 
The  Civil  War,  brought  on  by  the  assassination  of  Knox's 
friend,  the  regent  Moray,  did  not  succeed  in  its  plans. 
When  tidings  came  of  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew 
Knox,  from  the  pulpit  of  St.  Giles,  "challenged  the 
French  Ambassador  to  report  his  words,  and  denounced 
God's  vengeance  on  the  crowned  murderer  and  his  pos-- 
terity."  When  the  civil  conflict  broke  out  between  the  ad- 
herents of  Mary  and  the  town  of  Edinburgh  both  parties 
agreed  to  the  removal  of  Knox,  who  had  suffered  an  at- 
tack of  paralysis,  to  St.  Andrews.  He  here  published  his 
last  book  and  wrote  his  last  will.  In  the  preface  to  his 
book  he  says :  "I  heartily  take  my  good-night  of  the  faith- 
ful in  both  realms  *  *  *  for  as  the  world  is  weary  of 
me,  so  am  I  of  it."  Returning  to  Edinburgh  in  the  au- 
tumn he  died  on  the  24th  of  November,  1572.  As  Mor- 
ton, the  new  regent  of  Scotland  said  at  his  burial  in  St. 
Giles  Churchyard,  looking  back  over  the  stormy  life  of 
Knox,  it  was  a  matter  of  surprise  that  the  man  who  had 
"neither  flattered  nor  feared  any  flesh  had  ended  his  days 
in  peace  and  honor." 

As  long  as  Scotland  exists  and  the  story  of  the  Refor- 
mation and  the  Reformed  Churches  that  sprang  out  of  it 
is  told,  the  name  and  fame  of  John  Knox  will  not  be 
forgotten. 


CHAPTER  V. 
Thi5   Reformation   In    Switzerland.     Zwingli    and 

OECOIvAMPADIUS. 

The  story  of  the  Reformation  in  Switzerland  centres 
especially  about  two  men,  Ulrich  Zwingli  and  John  Cal-- 
vin.  Zwingli  was  the  chief  founder  of  the  Reformed 
Churches  of  Europe  and  America.  Calvin  holds  the  same 
relation  to  the  great  Presbyterian  fellowship  throughout 
the  world.  Like  the  Alpine  heights  that  overlooked  the 
scenes  of  their  earthly  labors  the  nearer  they  are  ap- 
proached the  loftier  and  grander  is  seen  to  be  the  range 
of  their  character  and  influence.  They  were  pioneers  in 
recovering  the  long  lost  principles  of  democracy  laid  down 
in  the  New  Testament,  upon  which  to-day  rests  the  super- 
structure of  republican  institutions.  Great  in  character 
and  great  in  intellectual  and  statesmanlike  qualities, 
they  were  called  to  their  providential  work  in  the  en- 
vironment of  a  land  whose  valleys  and  mountains  from 
the  days  when  the  Waldensens  sought  their  shelter,  have 
been  a  place  of  refuge  for  brave  spirits  who  have  led  the 
battle  hosts  of  God's  elect  against  the  serried  ranks  of 
hierarchical  supremacy  and  oppression. 

Ulrich  Zwingli  was  born  in  a  free  peasant's  chalet  in 
one  of  the  Swiss  valleys.^  Early  destined  for  the  Church 
he  made  his  home,  when  but  a  lad,  with  an  uncle  who  was 
the   parish   priest   of  Wildhaus.      From   the   schools   of 

^January  i,  1484,  at  Wildhaus  in  the  Toggenburg  valley,  in  the 
canton  of  St.  Gall. 

209 
14 


2IO  The  Reformation. 

Basel  and  Berne  he  came  under  the  training  of  the  Do- 
minican monastery  in  that  city.  An  enthusiastic  student 
of  classical  literature,  after  his  graduation  from  the  Uni- 
versity at  Basel,  he  became  a  teacher  of  this  literature 
that,  in  its  higher  ethical  expression,  left  an  abiding  im- 
pression upon  his  life  and  thought.  "Luther,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Armitage,  ''never  quite  shook  off  scholasticism, 
whereas  Zwingli  had  early  learned  from  Dr.  Thomas 
Wyttenbach  that  the  time  was  at  hand  when  scholastic 
theology  must  give  place  to  the  purer  and  more  rational 
theology  of  the  early  Fathers  and  to  a  fearless  study  of 
the  New  Testament.  He  heard  from  this  same  teacher 
bold  criticisms  of  Romish  teaching  concerning  the  sacra- 
ments, monastic  vows  and  papal  indulgences,  and  uncon- 
sciously he  was  thus  trained  for  the  great  remonstrance 
of  his  later  years. "^ 

The  name  of  this  Basel  university  professor  is  worthy 
of  special  mention.  Wyttenbach,  ten  years  before  Luther 
nailed  his  theses  on  the  church  door  at  Wittenberg,  had 
posted  theses  of  similar  import  at  Basel,  and  boldly  taught 
that  the  Bible  and  not  the  Church  was  the  supreme  guide 
and  that  forgiveness  of  sin  came  through  Jesus  Christ 
and  not  by  the  importunity  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
saints.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  Zwingli  was  appointed 
parish  priest  of  Glarus.  Continuing  his  favorite  classical 
studies  he  gave  special  attention  to  Greek  that  he  might 
"learn  the  teaching  of  Christ  from  the  original  sources." 
At  this  time  he  came  under  the  influence  of  Erasmus,  with 
whom  he  was  in  frequent  correspondence. 

In    the    history    of    these    days,    in    which    political 

^Article  Zwingli.     Encyclopedia  Brittanica.     Eleventh  edition. 


UlvRICH  ZWINGU.  211 

and  religious  affairs  are  so  inextricably  mingled,  it  will 
help  us  to  better  understand  the  work  of  Calvin  and 
Zwingli  if  we  remember  that  "no  nation  was  so  abso- 
lutely without  a  central  government  as  the  Swiss."  In 
the  Swiss  cantons  the  people  governed  themselves.  There 
were  no  feudal  lordships.  The  communes  and  villages 
were  little  republics  of  a  primitive  Teutonic  type,  "If 
therefore  in  a  Swiss  canton  the  civil  power  took  to  itself 
the  ecclesiastical  power  hitherto  held  by  the  Pope,  that 
power  became  vested  in  the  people,  not  as  in  other  coun- 
tries, in  the  prince  or  king."  Political  opinion  at  Glarus 
favored  alliance  with  France  that  was  disapproved  by 
Zwingli  and  he  was  glad  to  accept  the  position  of  priest 
at  Einsiedeln.  At  this  time  (1516-19)  his  religious  con- 
victions became  fixed  and  he  entered  upon  labors  as  an 
evangelical  leader  and  teacher  that  continued  until  his 
death.  "He  had  none  of  Luther's  distrust  of  the  'common 
man'  and  fear  of  popular  government,  and  this  fact  won 
for  his  teaching  the  favour  of  the  towns  of  South  Ger- 
many not  less  than  Switzerland." 

In  1 5 18,  Zwingli,  in  the  face  of  considerable  opposi- 
tion, sought  and  obtained  the  place  of  people's  priest  as 
the  Great  Minister  of  Zurich.  Already  he  was  a  marked 
man.  His  sermons,  founded  upon  a  profound  mastery  of 
the  New  Testament,  attracted  wide  attention.  Corruption 
in  State  and  Church  alike  met  his  scathing  condemnation. 
It  was  in  these  days  that  we  find  his  views  conflicting  with 
those  of  Luther.  Mention  has  already  been  made  of  the 
unhappy  outcome  of  efforts  that  sought  to  remove  these 
differences.^    Zwingli  always  contended  that  he  had  dis- 

iSee  page  139. 


212  Thi^  Reformation. 

covered  the  Gospel  message  before  the  name  of  Luther 
was  known  in  Switzerland.  Following  an  illness,  in 
which  he  fell  the  victim  of  a  prevailing  plague,  he 
preached  more  earnestly  than  ever  before  against  the  cele- 
bacy  of  priests,  fasting  and  saint  worship.  With  others 
of  like  spirit  he  joined  in  an  address  to  the  Bishop  of 
Constance  asking  him  to  grant  permission  to  the  priests 
to  marry.  The  contention  reached  the  Pope  (Adrian 
VI.),  who  asked  the  Zurichers  to  dismiss  the  recreant 
priest.  But  the  eloquent  and  courageous  preacher  was 
upheld  in  his  course  and  the  canton  voted  to  sever  its 
connection  with  the  bishopric  of  Constance. 

Strong  opposition  to  the  Reformation  arose  in  the  five 
Forest  Cantons.^  A  league  of  defence  was  formed  and 
as  the  result  of  a  great  public  disputation  in  Berne  that 
brought  together  350  ecclesiastics,  that  important  canton 
was  won  over  to  the  party  led  by  Zwingli.  The  propo- 
sitions defended  in  this  meeting  went  to  the  root  of  the 
matter.- 

^Lucerne,  Zug,  Schwyz,  Uri,  and  Unterwalden. 

2They  were  as  follows:  (i)  That  the  Holy  Christian  Church 
of  which  Christ  is  the  only  Head,  is  born  of  the  Word  of  God, 
abides  therein,  and  does  not  listen  to  the  voice  of  a  stranger;  (2) 
that  this  Church  imposes  no  laws  on  the  conscience  of  the  people 
without  the  sanction  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  that  the  laws  of 
the  Church  are  binding  only  in  so  far  as  they  agree  with  the 
Word ;  (3)  that  Christ  alone  is  our  righteousness  and  our  sal- 
vation, and  that  to  trust  to  any  other  merit  or  satisfaction  is  to 
deny  Him ;  (4)  that  it  cannot  be  proved  from  the  Holy  Scripture 
that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  corporeally  present  in  the 
bread  and  wine  of  the  Lord's  Supper;  (5)  that  the  mass,  in 
which  Chirst  is  offered  to  God  the  Father  for  the  sins  of  the 
living  and  of  the  dead,  is  contrary  to  Scripture  and  a  gross  affront 
to  the  sacrifice  and  death  of  the  Saviour;    (6)  that  we  should  not 


Doctrinai,  Views  of  Zwingli.  213 

Zwingli  held  that  the  congregation,  and  not  the  hi- 
erarchy, was  the  representative  of  the  Church.  He  led 
the  contest  that  sought  to  incorporate  in  the  Swiss  Con-- 
stitution  the  principles  of  representative  democracy. 
Many  of  his  colleagues  followed  his  example  in  publicly 
celebrating  his  happy  marriage  with  Anna  Reinhard.  The 
same  year  (1524)  he  published  a  pamphlet  giving  his 
views  regarding  the  Lord's  Supper.  In  a  congress  that 
was  attended  by  about  900  delegates  his  voice  was  raised 
against  the  use  of  images  and  the  doctrine  of  the  mass 
with  such  effect  that  the  churches  were  stripped  of  their 
ornaments  and  many  festivals  and  ceremonies  abolished. 
This  action  aroused  the  fierce  opposition  of  the  dominant 
Roman  Catholic  party  in  the  Forest  Cantons.  A  diet  held 
at  Lucerne  (January  26,  1524,)  sent  a  message  of  rebuke 
to  Zurich  that  met  a  response  declaring  that  she  would 
listen  to  no  interference  ''in  matters  relating  to  the  Word 
of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls." 

In  the  spring  of  1525  Zwingli  published  his  Commen- 
tary on  the  True  and  false  Religion.  'Xike  others  of  the 
Reformers  he  had  been  led  independently  to  preach  justi- 
fication by  faith  and  to  declare  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
one  and  only  Mediator  between  sinful  men  and  God ;  but 
his  construction  rested  upon  what  he  regarded  as  Biblical 

pray  to  dead  mediators  and  intercessors,  but  to  Jesus  Christ 
alone;  (7)  that  there  is  no  trace  of  purgatory  in  Scripture;  (8) 
that  to  set  up  pictures  and  to  adore  them  is  also  contrary  to 
Scripture,  and  that  images  and  pictures  ought  to  be  destroyed 
where  there  is  danger  of  giving  them  adoration;  (9)  that  mar- 
riage is  lawful  to  all,  to  the  clergy  as  well  as  to  the  laity;  (10) 
that  shameful  living  is  more  disgraceful  among  the  clergy  than 
among  the  laity. 


214  The  Rei^ormation. 

conceptions  of  the  nature  of  God  and  men  rather  than 
upon  such  private  personal  experiences  as  those  which 
Luther  had  made  basal.  In  this  commentary  there  ap- 
pears the  mature  views  of  Zwingli  on  the  subject  of  the 
Elements  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  was  quite  as  clear  as 
Luther  in  repudiating  the  medieval  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  but  he  declined  to  accept  Luther's  teaching 
that  Christ's  words  of  institution  required  the  belief  that 
the  real  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  co-exist  in  and  with  the 
natural  elements.  He  declared  that  Luther  was  in  a  fog, 
and  that  Christ  had  warned  His  disciples  against  all  such 
notions,  and  had  proclaimed  that  by  faith  alone  could  His 
presence  be  received  in  a  feast  which  He  designed  to  be 
commemorative  and  symbolicaL"^ 

In  the  autumn  of  1529  the  landgrave  of  Hesse  brought 
the  leaders  of  the  Reformation  together  for  conference. 
The  hope  that  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches 
might  be  united  in  the  contest  against  Rome  was  not  real- 
ized. Luther  could  not  forget  the  friendship  of  Zwingli 
and  Erasmus,  and  was  unwilling  to  change  his  literal  in- 
terpretation of  the  words  of  consecration  for  the  more 
spiritual  and  mythical  conception  of  Zwingli.  Luther  was 
human.  It  was  not  in  his  nature  to  yield  at  any  point  when 
he  had  taken  a  position.  His  violent  dislike  of  Erasmus, 
and  those  who  were  at  all  rationalistic  in  their  views  and 
philosophy,  added  to  an  evident  personal  prejudice  against 
Zwingli,  appears  in  the  action  on  his  part  that  closed 
this  conference.  It  was  the  parting  of  the  ways  con- 
tinued until  to-day.    Again  we  have  come  to  a  century  in 

1  Professor  Armstrong.     Article  Zwingli.     Encyclopedia  Brit- 
tanica.    Eleventh  edition. 


Dkath  o^  Zwingu.  215 

which  we  hope  and  pray  and  rejoice  in  signs  that  promise 
the  growing  unity  of  the  Church  of  which  Christ  is  the 
Head,  but  the  Reformation  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  in 
its  liberation  of  thought  and  freedom  of  opinion  must 
needs  be  an  era  of  division.  It  is  a  wonderful  history  that 
both  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran  Churches  have  made 
in  the  past  four  centuries  in  advancing  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  His  righteousness.  Who  shall  say  that  it  was 
not  best  that  October  day  in  1529  that  Luther  and 
Zwingli  went  their  separate  ways? 

The  work  of  Zwingli  was  drawing  to  a  tragic  close. 
The  Romanist  cantons  in  1529  made  an  attack  on  Zurich 
that  was  averted  by  a  truce  that  lasted  only  for  a  few 
months.  In  1531  the  second  Cappel  war  broke  out.  In  the 
battle,  where  Romanist  strength  and  numbers  prevailed, 
Zwingli,  who  as  chaplain,  was  carrying  the  Protestant  ban- 
ner, was  struck  down  and  killed  with  barbarous  cruelty. 
Upon  the  hugh  boulder  that  marks  the  place  where  he 
fell  these  words  are  inscribed :  "  'They  may  kill  the  body 
but  not  the  soul,'  so  spoke  on  this  spot  Ulrich  Zwingli, 
who  for  truth  and  the  freedom  of  the  Christian  Church 
died  a  hero's  death,  Oct.  3,  1531." 

"Thus  died,"  says  Dr.  James  I.  Good,  "  'for  his  faith 
and  his  country,'  the  only  one  of  the  first  four  leading 
Reformers  (Luther,  Melanchthon,  Zwingli,  and  Ecolam- 
padius)  who  gave  his  life  for  his  faith.  He  was  not  a 
martyr  as  were  the  martyr-Reformers  Cranmer,  Ridley, 
and  Latimer,  who  were  burned  at  the  stake.  And  yet 
he  no  less  gave  his  life  for  his  religion,  for  he  knew  that 
Zurich  would  be  defeated  at  Cappel.  He  was  the  only 
one  of  the  great  Continental  Reformers  who  sealed  his 
faith  with  his  blood.    He  was  a  great  man  in  many  ways, 


2i6  The:  Rei^ormation. 

great  as  a  theologian,  as  patriot,  as  a  musician,  as  an  ora- 
tor and  as  a  Reformer."  The  story  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  which  Zwingli  founded,  is  woven  into  the  history 
of  Southern  Switzerland,  Holland,  Germany,  Hungary, 
France,  Scotland,  and  the  United  States,  and  lives  in  mis- 
sionary activities  that  have  carried  their  influences  to  the 
ends  of  the  earth, 

John  Oecolampadius  was  the  leader  of  the  Reformation 
in  Basel.  A  zealous  student  of  the  new  learning  he  was 
appointed  cathedral  preacher  at  Basel  in  1515.  In  1520 
he  was  called  to  preach  in  the  high  church  at  Augsburg 
and  soon  became  an  earnest  champion  of  Luther.  After 
a  brief  experience  of  monastic  life  he  returned  to  Basel 
and  from  this  time  on  stood  by  the  side  of  Zwingli.  To- 
gether they  led  in  the  movement  that  brought  Berne  and 
Basel  into  the  Reformed  ranks. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The:  Reformation  In  Geneva  Under  John  Caevin. 

Next  to  Wittenberg,  Geneva  was  the  fountain  head  of 
the  Reformation.  It  has  been  truthfully  said  that  'Xu- 
ther  v^as  too  national — too  German — a  reformer,  to  ad- 
mit of  his  becoming  the  universal  prophet  of  Protestant- 
ism all  over  the  world.  Denmark,  Sweden,  and  Norway 
coming  under  German  influence,  did  indeed  become  Lu- 
theran; but  the  Protestants  of  France,  Holland,  Switzer- 
land, England,  Scotland,  and  their  descendants  in  Amer- 
ica are  not  and  never  have  been  Lutherans."^  Geneva, 
under  Calvin,  and  Zurich  under  Zwingli,  were  the  source 
of  influences  that  were  dominant  in  the  Reformed  faith. 

Under  its  ancient  constitution  (1387)  Geneva  recog- 
nized the  triple  authority  of  the  Bishop  as  sovereign 
Prince ;  the  Count  who  held  the  citadel ;  and  the  Free 
Burghers.  In  the  conflicts  between  these  parties  the 
bishops  and  the  burghers  generally  united  against  the 
Count  who  represented  the  House  of  Savoy.  For  many 
decades  the  Church,  by  a  wise  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  the  people,  held  the  place  of  leadership.  This  place  it 
lost  when  the  bishopric  finally  came  under  the  control  of 
the  House  of  Savoy.  Episcopal  scandals  and  misused 
power  aroused  fierce  indignation  and  the  Genevans  sought 
an  alliance  with  the  cantons  of  Freiburg  and  Berne.  This 
alliance  brought  about  arrangements  (1530)  by  which 
Geneva  was  governed  by  a  two  chambered  Council  whose 

^Seebohm.     The  Bra  of  the  Protestant  Revolution,  p.  201. 

217 


2i8  Thk  Reformation. 

decisions  were  submitted  for  final  adoption  to  a  General 
Council  composed  of  all  the  citizens. 

Already  the  leaven  of  Reformed  truth  was  working  in 
the  life  of  the  city.  In  the  summer  of  1532  this  ferment 
of  feeling  found  popular  vent.  Following  the  publication 
of  a  papal  Indulgence,  the  burghers  discovered  one  morn- 
ing posted  on  all  the  church  doors,  the  announcement  that 
"plenary  pardon  would  be  granted  to  every  one  for  all 
their  sins  on  the  one  condition  of  repentance,  and  a  living 
faith  in  the  promises  of  Jesus  Christ."  The  city  was  in 
a  tumult  of  commotion.  Priests  hastened  to  tear  down 
the  placards  sorely  alarmed  over  the  evidence  that  hated 
Lutherans  were  at  work  undermining  their  influence.  In 
the  autumn  of  1532  a  reformer  entered  the  city  who  was 
to  be  a  John  the  Baptist  in  preparing  the  way  for  Calvin. 

William  Farel  was  born  of  a  noble  family  (1489),  hav- 
ing their  home  near  Gap,  in  France.  A  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Paris  he  was  for  a  time  professor  in  the 
college  of  Cardinal  Lemoine.  In  1521  he  joined  the  com- 
pany at  Aleaux  that  sought  to  stem  the  tide  of  Reforma- 
tion by  instituting  reforms  within  the  Church  of  Rome. 
When  persecution  dispersed  this  group,  Farel  found  his 
way  to  Basel.  Welcomed  by  Oecolampadius  in  1524  he 
issued  thirteen  theses,  "sharply  antagonizing  Roman  doc- 
trine." The  heat  of  temper  in  which  he  defended  his  po- 
sition stirred  the  indignation  of  Erasmus,  then  a  resident 
of  the  city,  and  with  the  help  of  others,  he  made  it  so  un- 
comfortable for  Farel  that  he  sought  refuge  elsewhere. 
Wandering  for  a  time  from  one  place  to  another  he  finally 
secured  a  license  to  preach  anywhere  within  the  Canton 
of  Berne.  In  his  evangelistic  tours  he  ventured  into 
neighboring  cantons.     Undaunted  by  persecution  he  ut- 


WlIvIylAM    FaRDL.  219 

tered  his  denunciatory  messages  with  eloquent  and  rest- 
less energy.  "In  October,  1530,  he  broke  into  the  Church 
of  Neuchatel  with  an  iconoclastic  mob,  thus  planting  the 
Reformation  in  that  city."  Two  years  later  he  visited  the 
Waldenses  and  on  his  return  stopped  at  Geneva.  Condi- 
tions, as  we  have  seen,  favored  the  restless  spirit  of  Farel. 
He  began  to  preach  in  a  room  where  he  lodged  and  his 
message  attracted  wide  attention.  Summoned  before  the 
bishops'  court  he  was  treated  shamefully  and  commanded 
to  leave  the  city  wnthin  three  hours.  By  this  time  the 
Protestant  canton  of  Berne  felt  compelled  to  come  to  the 
support  of  their  brother  in  Geneva,  and  through  their  in- 
tervention, liberty  of  worship,  in  the  spring  of  1533,  was 
granted  the  Reforming  party  in  that  city.  Farel  returned 
from  his  brief  exile  and  at  once  gained  a  place  of  leader- 
ship. Events  moved  fast.  The  bishop  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1534,  interdicted  all  unauthorized  preaching  and 
ordered  the  burning  of  all  Protestant  Bibles.  This  action 
added  fuel  to  the  flame  of  popular  indignation,  and  Farel 
took  part  in  public  disputations  that  resulted  in  a  decree 
(August  27,  1535,)  that  supressed  the  mass  and  estab- 
lished the  reformed  religion. 

It  was  during  this  very  month  that  Calvin,  in  his  re- 
treat at  Basel,  penned  the  closing  lines  of  his  Institutes 
of  the  Christian  Religion.  "In  this  work,  though  pro-- 
duced  when  the  author  was  only  twenty-six  years  of  age, 
we  find  a  complete  outline  of  the  Calvinistic  theological 
system.  In  none  of  the  later  editions,  nor  in  any  of  his 
later  works  do  we  find  reason  to  believe  that  he  ever 
changed  his  views  on  any  essential  point  from  what  they 
were  at  the  period  of  its  first  publication.  Such  an  in- 
stance of  maturity  of  mind  and  of  opinion  at  so  early  an 


220  Tut  Re:i^ormation. 

age  would  be  remarkable  under  any  circumstances ;  but  in 
Calvin's  case  it  is  rendered  peculiarly  so  by  the  shortness 
of  the  time  which  had  elapsed  since  he  gave  himself  to 
theological  studies.  It  may  be  doubted  also  if  the  history 
of  literature  presents  us  with  another  instance  of  a  book 
written  at  an  early  age,  which  has  exercised  such  a  pro- 
digious influence  upon  the  opinions  and  practices  both  of 
contemporaries  and  of  posterity."^ 

Having  completed  his  great  work  in  August,  1535  (pub- 
lished in  1536),  Calvin  left  Basel  for  a  short  visit  to  the 
court  of  Renee,  then  graced  by  the  devout  Duchess  of 
Ferrara.  Returning  to  Basel  he  soon  went  on  to  France 
to  complete  arrangements  to  settle  in  Strasburg  and  de- 
vote himself  to  study.  The  unsettled  condition  of  af- 
fairs, owing  to  the  war  between  Francis  I.  and  CharlesV. 
compelled  him  to  take  a  circuitous  route  that  brought  him 
to  Geneva.  Here  he  met  Farel  and  found  his  providential 
life  work  in  that  city.  The  story  is  vividly  told  by  Calvin 
in  the  preface  to  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms.  "As  the 
most  direct  route  to  Strasburg,"  he  says,  "to  which  I  then 
intended  to  retire,  was  blocked  by  the  wars,  I  had  resolved 
to  pass  quickly  by  Geneva  without  staying  longer  than  a 
single  night  in  that  city.  *  *  *  A  person  (Louis  du 
Tillet),  who  has  now  returned  to  the  Papists,  discovered 
me  and  made  me  known  to  others.  Upon  this  Farel,  who 
burned  with  an  extraordinary  zeal  to  advance  the  Gospel, 
immediately  strained  every  nerve  to  detain  me.  After 
having  learned  that  my  heart  was  set  upon  devoting  my- 
self to  private  studies,  for  which  I  wished  to  keep  myself 

^Dr.  William  Lindsay  Alexander  and  Professor  Alexander 
James  Grieve.  Article  Calvin.   Ency.  Brittanica.  Eleventh  edition. 


John  Cai.vin.  221 

free  from  other  pursuits,  and  finding  that  he  gained  noth- 
ing by  entreaties,  he  proceeded  to  utter  an  imprecation 
that  God  would  curse  my  retirement  and  the  tranquihty 
of  the  studies  which  I  sought,  if  I  should  withdraw  and 
refuse  assistance  when  the  necessity  was  so  urgent.  By 
this  imprecation  I  was  so  stricken  with  terror  that  I  de- 
sisted from  the  journey  which  I  had  undertaken." 

We  can  scarcely  imagine  two  men  of  more  dissimilar 
temperaments  than  Calvin  and  Farel,  but  their  friendship 
was  such  that  the  younger  of  these  two  men  could  say  in 
after  years,  "We  had  one  heart  and  one  soul.''  Calvin 
when  he  yielded  to  the  stern  importunity  of  his  future  co- 
worker, was  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  and  Farel,  twenty 
years  his  senior. 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  story  of  Calvin's  great  work 
in  Geneva  let  us  briefly  recall  the  preceding  years  of  his 
life.  He  was  born  at  Noyon,  in  Picardy,  France,  July  10, 
1509.  His  father  was  a  man  of  considerable  importance 
in  the  community,  and  his  mother  was  a  woman  of  un- 
usual charm  of  person  and  character.  John  was  the  second 
of  five  sons.  His  early  education,  the  expenses  of  which 
were  defrayed  by  his  father,  was  in  the  household  of  the 
noble  family  of  de  Montmor.  Destined  to  an  ecclesiastical 
career  when  but  a  youth  he  was  officially  attached  to  the 
cathedral  of  Noyon.  From  the  income  of  this  benefice  he 
studied  in  Paris,  making  his  home  with  an  uncle.  The 
regent  of  the  college  which  he  attended,  Mathurin  Cor- 
dier,  a  man  of  repute  as  a  scholar,  in  after  years  followed 
his  eminent  pupil  to  Switzerland  and  died  at  Geneva  in 
1564.  Calvin  dedicated  to  him  his  Commentary  on  the 
First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  expressing  the  'Svish 
to  testify  to  posterity  that  if  any  utility  accrue  to  any 


222  The  Reformation. 

from  my  writings  they  may  acknowledge  it  as  having  in 
part  flowed  from  thee." 

Making  rapid  progress  in  his  studies  and  outstripping 
all  of  his  competitors,  especially  in  the  languages  and 
scholastic  philosophy,  he  returned  to  Noyon  to  become 
curate  of  St.  Martin.  When  the  time  arrived  for  a  final 
decision  regarding  his  ordination  to  the  priesthood,  there 
was  hesitation  on  his  part.  His  father  used  his  influence 
to  turn  him  to  the  profession  of  law.  The  career  of  a 
priest  did  not  have  the  attractions  of  earlier  years.  Com- 
plying with  his  father's  wish  he  entered  upon  the  study 
of  law  at  Orleans,  and  afterwards  at  Bourges.  One  of 
his  Orleans  friends,  Melchor  Wolmar,  who  also  came  to 
Bourges,  taught  him  Greek.  This  opened  to  him  the 
treasures  of  the  New  Testament  that  were  then  attracting 
attention  in  all  the  universities  of  Europe.  We  can  easily 
imagine  that  the  exciting  events  of  these  times  had  a 
large  place  in  the  thought  of  the  brilliant  young  law  stu- 
dent. The  twelve  years  that  had  past  since  Luther  nailed 
his  theses  on  the  door  of  the  Crown  church  at  Witten- 
berg had  witnessed  the  kindling  of  a  conflagration  that 
was  extending  far  beyond  the  bounds  of  Germany.  Mul- 
titudes in  France  sympathized  with  the  Reformation 
movement,  although,  as  yet,  there  was  no  open  revolt. 
Following  the  death  of  his  father  (May,  1531,)  Calvin 
returned  to  Paris,  and  while  pursuing  his  classical  studies 
issued  his  first  publication — a  commentary  in  Latin  on  a 
tract  of  Seneca.  In  1533  came  the  change  in  the  life  of 
Calvin  which  he  describes  as  his  ''sudden  conversion."  A 
change  by  which  his  heart  was  "so  subdued  and  reduced 
to  docility  that  in  comparison  with  his  zeal  for  true  piety 
he  regarded  all  other  studies  with  indifference,  though 


John  CaIvVin.  223 

not  entirely  forsaking  them.  Though  himself  a  beginner, 
many  flocked  to  him  to  learn  the  pure  doctrine,  and  he 
began  to  seek  some  hiding-place  and  means  of  with- 
drawal from  people." 

In  this  experience  he  was  brought  into  close  sympathy 
with  an  old  friend  of  early  student  days,  Nicholas  Cop, 
who  had  been  appointed  rector  of  the  university.  In  an 
address  on  All  Saints,  Cop  uttered  opinions  regarding  the 
reformed  faith  that  aroused  such  opposition  that  he 
deemed  it  wise  to  seek  a  refuge  in  Basel.  An  attempt 
was  made  at  the  same  time  to  seize  Calvin,  but  he  es- 
caped and  made  his  home  for  a  time  in  Noyon.  Return- 
ing to  Paris,  early  in  1534  he  accepted  an  invitation  to 
become  the  guest  of  Louis  du  Tillet,  a  canon  of  the 
cathedral  of  Angouleme.  Here  in  the  splendid  library 
of  his  friend  he  began  the  studies  which  bore  fruit  in  his 
immortal  work,  The  Institutes. 

Calvin  as  he  neared  his  twenty-fifth  birthday  made  the 
decision  that  cast  in  his  fortune  with  the  reforming  party. 
He  suffered  two  short  terms  of  imprisonment  on  charges 
that  could  not  be  sustained.  For  a  time  he  made  his 
home  at  Poiters  and  it  was  in  a  grotto  near  the  town 
that  he  celebrated  for  the  first  time  the  communion  in 
the  Evangelical  Church  of  France.  In  1534,  accompanied 
by  his  friend  Tillet,  he  went  to  Basel,  where  he  "was  wel- 
comed by  the  band  of  scholars  and  theologians  who  had 
conspired  to  make  that  city  the  Athens  of  Switzerland." 
Calvin  at  once  came  to  a  position  of  marked  influence. 
The  double  dealing  policy  of  Francis  I.  in  seeking  to 
avoid  a  break  with  the  Protestant  princes  of  Germany  by 
an  assurance  that  his  persecution  of  the  French  reformers 
was  directed  only  against  those  who  called  in  question  the 


224  The  Reformation. 

power  of  civil  magistrates,  aroused  his  indignation  and 
with  almost  incredible  celerity  he  prepared  his  Institutes 
of  the  Christian  Religion  for  publication.  It  was  sent 
forth  anonymously  with  the  purpose,  as  its  author  said, 
*'that  I  might  vindicate  from  unjust  affront  my  brethren 
whose  death  was  precious  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  and, 
next,  that  some  sorrow  and  anxiety  should  move  foreign 
peoples,  since  the  same  sufferings  threatened  many."  The 
book  was  first  written  in  Latin,  "that  it  might  find  access 
to  the  learned  in  all  lands."  At  an  early  date  Calvin 
translated  it  into  French.  As  edition  after  edition  was 
called  for  the  work  was  much  enlarged.  Little  could  the 
young  reformer  realize  that  the  brief  manual  of  Christian 
doctrine  which  he  penned  in  such  a  white  heat  of  intel- 
lectual vigor,  was  to  be  numbered  among  the  books  that 
have  profoundly  influenced  the  thought  and  convictions 
of  untold  multitudes  of  men  and  women ;  a  book  that  has 
given  guidance  and  strength  to  great  leaders  in  Church 
and  State,  through  the  past  four  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era. 

Calvin  and  Farel  In  Geneva. 

As  we  have  seen  it  was  an  unexpected  providence  that 
turned  Calvin  from  the  seclusion  that  he  desired  for  the 
pursuit  of  his  favorite  studies,  and  placed  him  in  the  fore- 
front of  affairs  at  Geneva.  The  more  we  learn  of  Farel 
the  better  we  like  him.  He  certainly  never  let  his  tem- 
pestuous spirit  act  to  better  purpose  than  in  the  ''impre- 
cation" that  startled  the  young  friend  whom  he  felt  was 
the  man  to  guide  the  reformation  forces  at  a  critical  hour 
when  the  fate  of  Protestantism  in  Geneva  and  Switzer- 
land was  in  the  balance.    Farel  knew  his  own  limitations. 


ThK  BivGlNNlNG  OF  CaLVIN's  WoKK  IN  Gl'NKVA.     225 

His  mission  was  to  stir  the  hearts  of  men  with  a  fiery 
message.  He  had  not  the  quaHties  of  statesmanship  and 
theological  insight  that  he  felt  Calvin  possessed  to  a 
marked  degree.  His  judgment  proved  correct.  The  man 
whom  Erasmns  could  not  abide  because  of  his  earnest 
evangelistic  spirit  and  whom  he  helped  to  drive  from 
Basel  was  to  be  the  right  hand  of  Calvin  in  his  work  at 
Geneva. 

This  work  began  with  no  blare  of  trumpets.  A  minute 
of  the  city  Council  under  date  of  September  5,  1536,  says : 
"Master  William  Farel  stated  the  need  for  the  lecture 
begun  by  this  Prenchman  in  St.  Peter's."  These  daily 
lectures  were  on  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul.  The  room  was 
soon  crowded  and  the  reputation  of  the  young  professor 
grew  apace.  At  an  early  date  an  occasion  arose  that 
tested  his  strength  as  a  leader  in  action  as  well  as  thought. 
The  Protestant  canton  of  Berne  had  gained  control  of  the 
larger  part  of  The  Pays  de  Vaud.  In  order  that  the  peo- 
ple might  gain  a  clear  knowledge  of  evangelical  prin- 
ciples arrangements  were  made  for  a  public  discussion  at 
Lausanne  (October,  1536).  An  invitation  was  extended 
to  all  the  priests  and  inmates  of  the  abbeys  and  convents 
in  the  conquered  lands  to  attend  the  Disputation,  with  the 
privilege  of  the  utmost  freedom  in  discussing  the  ten 
evangelical  theses  prepared  by  Farel  and  Viret.  In  the 
invitation  to  this  conference  Farel  wrote:  "You  may 
speak  here  as  boldly  as  you  please;  our  arguments  are 
neither  faggot,  fire  nor  sword,  prison  nor  torture ;  public 
executioners  are  not  our  doctors  of  divinity.  '^  ^'  ''^ 
Truth  is  strong  enough  to  outweigh  falsehood ;  if  you 
have  it,  bring  it  forward."  Only  a  fraction  of  the  Ro- 
manists accepted  this  urgent  invitation.  The  conference 
15 


226  The  Reformation. 

opened  October  ist,  with  a  sermon  preached  by  Farel  in 
the  Cathedral  of  Lausanne.  The  pubHc  discussion  began 
on  Monday  and  the  great  church  was  crowded  to  the 
doors  by  the  people  of  the  city  and  the  surrounding  coun- 
try. The  disputants  took  their  assigned  place  in  the  mid- 
dle aisle.  Among  them  sat  the  representatives  from 
Berne  ''distinguished  by  their  black  doublets  and  shoul- 
der-knots faced  with  red,  and  by  their  broad-brimmed 
hats  ornamented  with  great  bunches  of  feathers — hats 
kept  stiffly  on  their  heads  as  befitting  the  representatives 
of  such  potent  lords." 

Farel  and  Viret  were  the  Protestant  orators.  Calvin 
was  present  but  had  not  purposed  to  speak.  In  the  course 
of  the  discussion  one  of  the  Romanist  defenders  asserted 
that  the  Protestants  were  afraid  to  quote  from  the  ancient 
Fathers,  knowing  that  they  were  opposed  to  their  doc- 
trines. The  young,  and  then  but  little  known  teacher 
from  Geneva,  rose  to  his  feet  and  observed  with  sar- 
castic tone  that  those  who  professed  to  reverence  the 
Fathers  might  profitably  study  their  writings.  Quoting 
from  memory  from  Cyprian,  Tertullian,  St.  Augustine, 
and  others,  he  completely  refuted  the  assertion  of  the 
Romanist  speaker.  He  went  out  of  the  church  a  marked 
man.  That  address  was  soon  a  theme  of  interest  in  every 
Protestant  home  in  Switzerland. 

Calvin  was  now  to  prove  his  ability  as  a  statesman. 
Matters  were  at  loose  ends  in  the  civic  life  of  Geneva  and 
he  set  to  work  preparing  a  draft  of  needed  reforms.  It 
was  accepted  and  became  the  basis  of  the  ecclesiastical 
work  accomplished  by  Calvin  with  the  help  of  Farel  and 
other  associates.  In  this  memorandum  he  urged  the  fre- 
quent celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper;    the  congrega- 


TjiiC  Work  of  Calvin  in  Gj-xkva.  227 

tional  singing  of  the  Psalms;  the  religious  instruction  of 
the  young;  and  the  lawful  ordinance  and  duty  of  mar- 
riage. The  articles  received  the  general  approval  of  the 
city  Council  and  were  in  force  until  superseded  by  the 
ordinances  adopted  in  the  autumn  of  1541.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten  as  we  note  the  influence  that  Calvin  exerted 
through  municipal  regulations  that  the  free  Swiss  cities 
permitted  to  their  Councils  control  over  both  large  and 
petty  affairs,  a  control  that  left  little  room  for  personal 
liberty  and  action.  We  quite  agree  with  Professor  Lind- 
say that  in  looking  over  the  pages  of  the  Swiss  town  rec- 
ords ''the  thought  cannot  help  arising  that  the  Civic 
P'athers,  like  some  modern  law-makers,  were  content  to 
place  stringent  regulations  on  the  statute  books,  and  then, 
exhausted  by  their  moral  endeavor,  had  no  energy  left  to 
put  them  in  practice.  But  every  now  and  then  a  righteous 
fit  seized  them,  and  maid  servants  were  summoned  before 
the  Council  for  wearing  silk  aprons,  or  fathers  for  giving 
too  luxurious  wedding  feasts,  or  citizens  for  working  on 
a  Church  festival,  or  a  mother  for  adorning  her  daughter 
too  gaily  for  her  marriage.  The  citizens  of  every  medi- 
eval town  lived  under  a  municipal  discipline  which  we 
would  pronounce  to  be  vexatious  and  despotic."^ 

Only  as  we  give  careful  attention  to  the  conditions  that 
Calvin  had  to  accept  in  working  out  his  plans  can  we  un- 
derstand the  use  he  made  of  them.  Pie  was  not  only  a 
diligent  and  profound  student  of  the  New  Testament  and 
the  Early  Fathers,  but  he  had  caught  the  spirit  and  pur- 
pose of  the  democracy  they  taught,  and  so  became  one 
of  the  world's  great  leaders  in  the  removal  of  the  rubbish 

^History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  loS. 


228  TlTK   RFJ'ORMATION. 

and  superstitions  of  medieval  centuries  and  laying  the 
foundations  of  republican  institutions  and  forms  of  gov- 
ernment in  Church  and  State.  A  work  that  restored  the 
rights  of  the  people,  denied  the  supremacy  of  hierarchical 
princes,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  fulfillment  of  that 
unity  of  spirit  and  brotherhood  for  which  our  Lord 
prayed. 

In  the  matter  of  excommunication  of  unworthy  mem- 
bers Calvin  "insisted  that  the  secular  power  should  en- 
force the  censures  of  the  Church."  In  taking  this  posi- 
tion, however  mistaken  it  may  seem  to  us,  he  was  in  ac- 
cord with  the  leaders  of  the  Reformation,  although  some 
of  them,  like  Zwingli,  did  not  believe  the  Church  should 
exercise  the  right  of  excommunication.  Calvin's  ambition 
was  to  lay  the  foundations  in  Geneva  of  a  theocracy.  An 
ambition,  however  noble  its  aims  and  ideals,  impossible  of 
realization  in  a  world  where  personal  rights  as  well  as 
personal  obligations  co-exist.  The  effort  to  impose  a 
Confession  of  Faith  upon  the  Genevians  while  approved 
by  a  majority  of  the  Council  met  with  opposition  that 
was  a  source  of  growing  irritation.  This,  with  differences 
of  opinion  regarding  discipline  and  methods  of  excom- 
munication, aroused  discontent  that  finally  won  over  the 
Council  to  action  that  was  in  direct  opposition  to  the 
views  of  Calvin  and  Farel.  There  were  many  in  Geneva 
who  still  adhered  to  the  Roman  faith  and  others  had  no 
special  interest  in  the  Reformation  movement  further 
than  as  it  was  a  means  of  freeing  the  city  from  the  rule 
of  the  Bishop.  The  Anabaptist  propaganda  found  ad- 
herents in  this  time  of  intellectual  and  religious  ferment 
and  they  were  glad  to  join  the  ranks  of  those  who  de- 
sired to  destroy  the  work  of  the   reformers   and  their 


CaIA'IN  HaMPKRKD  RV  POIJTICAL  DlFFlvRKNCEv'^.      229 

drastic  plans  for  purifying  the  civic  as  well  as  spiritual 
life  of  the  community.  Another  source  of  disturbance 
at  this  time  originated  in  a  trial  which  deposed  Pierre 
Caroli,  the  chief  pastor  at  Lausanne.  Calvin  stood  by  the 
side  of  those  who  condemned  Caroli  as  a  man  of  loose 
character  and  belief.  In  turn  he  brought  charges  against 
the  Geneva  pastors  because  *'they  would  not  enforce  the 
Athanasian  Creed  and  had  not  used  the  words  'Trinity' 
and  'Person'  in  the  confession  they  had  drawn  up."  The 
verdict  was  favorable  to  the  Genevan  divines  and  their 
accuser,  after  his  return  to  France,  rejoined  the  Roman 
Church. 

More  serious  troubles  were  near  at  hand.  The  ritual 
which  Farel  had  introduced  and  which  Calvin  vigorously 
supported,  was  the  source  of  continued  strife.  Berne 
was  seeking  to  strengthen  its  position  as  the  controlling 
power  among  the  Protestant  cantons.  While  Geneva  was 
independent  it  was  bound  by  an  alliance  that  admitted 
the  Bernese  into  the  city  at  all  times  and  forbade  the 
making  of  any  treaty  without  their  consent.  The  Council 
of  Berne  was  the  last  court  of  appeal  in  Romance  Swit- 
zerland and  its  leadership  everywhere,  but  in  Geneva,  con- 
trolled ecclesiastical  arrangements.  The  unrest  that  now 
divided  the  Genevans  into  different  parties  was  taken  ad- 
vantage of  to  secure  a  closer  alliance  that  would 
streng^then  the  political  control  of  Berne  over  Geneva. 
This  alliance  would  be  advanced  if  uniformity  in  ecclesi- 
astical usages  could  be  secured.  The  Council  of  Berne 
called  a  Synod  of  the  Protestant  churches  of  Western 
Switzerland  to  consider  this  matter.  The  outcome  of 
this,  and  a  second  meeting  of  the  Synod,  discloses  that 
mischief  makers  were  at  work  in  underhanded  wavs.  The 


230  TllK   REFORMATION. 

Genevan  magistrates,  without  consulting  Calvin  or  the 
other  pastors  of  the  city,  resolved  to  introduce  the  Bernese 
forms  of  Church  ceremonies.  The  following  day  their 
action  was  reported  to  Calvin  and  Farel  with  an  admoni- 
tion that  it  would  not  be  wise  to  criticize  this  decision 
from  their  pulpit.  Meanwhile  invitations  had  been  received 
to  the  Synod  that  was  to  meet  at  Lausanne  (March  30, 
1538,)  intimating  that  if  the  Genevan  pastors  were  not 
ready  to  accept  the  Berne  proposals  they  would  not  be 
welcome.  Farel  and  Calvin  attended  the  Synod  and  ac- 
quiesced in  the  decision  that  adopted  the  Bernese  usages. 
Under  ordinary  circumstances  the  change  would  have 
been  made  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  way.  But  there  were 
hot-tempered  men  in  the  Genevan  Council  who  desired  to 
make  the  position  in  which  Farel  and  Calvin  were  placed 
as  uncomfortable  as  possible.  The  situation  reminds  us 
of  the  experience  of  Jonathan  Edwards,  the  great  New 
England  theologian,  in  the  controversy  that  compelled 
him  to  resign  his  pastorate  at  Northampton.  Truth  tell- 
ing is  not  popular  with  sin-loving  pew  holders  any  more 
than  with  the  world  outside. 

The  drama  that  brought  future  days  of  humiliation  and 
regret  to  the  Genevans,  comes  to  its  culminating  scene. 
The  Council  demanded  that  the  Bernese  form  of  cele- 
brating the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  immediately  intro- 
duced. If  Farel  and  Calvin  refused  other  ministers  were 
to  be  engaged.  One  of  the  pastors  of  the  city,  the  blind 
preacher  Elie  Coraut,  had  criticized  the  Council  severely 
and  had  been  forbidden  to  preach  under  threat  of  im- 
prisonment. He  gave  no  heed  to  the  threat  and  was  at 
once  arrested  and  put  in  the  city  jail.  Farel  and  Calvin 
demanded  his  release.    The  ears  of  the  magistrates  must 


Cai^vin  Banished  From  Geneva.  231 

have  burned  as  with  fiery  denunciation  Farel  reminded 
them  that  their  official  position  and  honors  were  due  to 
Calvin  and  his  own  labors.  But  the  tide  of  reaction  was 
running  with  something  of  the  swiftness  with  which  the 
Rhone  carries  the  waters  of  Lake  Leman  on  its  way  to 
the  far  off  sea.  The  voices  of  the  noble  Christian  mes- 
sengers to  whom  the  people  of  Geneva  had  so  often  lis- 
tened with  breathless  interest,  were  silenced.  In  those 
days  of  undeserved  humiliation  Farel  must  have  won- 
dered if  his  ''imprecation"  that  changed  the  plans  of  Cal- 
vin, was  a  Divine  call,  and  Calvin  must  have  pondered 
upon  the  mysteries  of  providence.  With  unseemly  haste 
the  faithful  preachers  were  driven  out  of  the  city. 

Calvin  has  left  on  record  the  story  of  these  sad  days. 
Street  rowdies  sang  ribald  and  obscene  songs  under  the 
windows  of  his  house.  They  threatened  to  "throw  him 
into  the  Rhone"  and  made  the  nights  hideous  by  firing 
guns  before  his  door, — "more  than  enough,"  he  says  in 
a  letter  to  a  friend,  ''to  astonish  a  poor  scholar,  timid  as 
I  am,  and  as  I  confess  I  have  always  been." 

Calvin  and  Farel  at  once  laid  their  case  before  the 
Council  of  Berne  and  the  Synod  of  Swiss  Churches  which 
met  at  Zurich  April  28,  1538.  Evidently  the  Bernese 
councillors,  wdiose  actions  had  aided  in  the  fanatical  out- 
break at  Geneva,  were  stricken  with  a  sense  of  remorse 
and  regret.  They  hastened  to  communicate  with  the 
Council  at  Geneva  and  urged  them  to  undo  their  hasty 
action.  Their  reply  disclosed  the  sinister  influences  that 
had  gained  control  in  its  decisions. 

From  Berne  the  exiled  ministers  went  on  to  Zurich  to 
attend  the  Synod  of  Swiss  Churches.  They  presented 
their  case  with  "proud  humility."     As  to  the  matter  of 


232  Thk  Rk^ormation. 

ceremonial  observance  they  were  quite  ready  to  act  in 
harmony  with  the  prevaiHng  customs  of  the  Reformed 
Churches.  "But  on  the  question  of  principle  and  on  the 
rights  of  the  Church  set  over  against  the  State,  they  were 
firm." 

The  Synod  sent  a  special  message  to  the  Council  of  Ge- 
neva and  asked  the  deputies  from  Berne  to  use  their  best 
endeavors  to  secure  the  reinstatement  of  Farel  and  Cal- 
vin. The  two  pastors  waited  at  the  frontier  while  the 
deputies  proceeded  on  their  errand  of  reconcilement.  The 
continued  bitterness  of  feeling  at  Geneva  is  disclosed  in 
the  unanimous  vote  that  repeated  the  sentence  of  exile 
and  forbade  the  three  pastors  entering  the  Genevan  terri- 
tory. Calvin  would  gladly  have  sought  seclusion  and  the 
opportunity  for  study  that  was  his  most  delightful  em- 
ployment. But  imperative  calls  came  in  many  ways.  The 
small,  jealous  minded  burghers  of  Geneva,  might  vent 
their  spleen  against  the  man  whose  loyalty  to  truth  had 
stirred  their  evil  and  selfish  passions,  but  they  could  not 
rob  him  of  the  crown  of  fidelity  and  leadership  that  the 
Protestant  leaders  in  every  land  where  the  Reformation 
was  making  progress,  had  placed  upon  him.  Accepting 
an  invitation  to  become  the  pastor  of  the  French  refugees 
who  had  found  a  home  within  the  protecting  walls  of 
Strasburg,  he  found  time  to  attend  many  influential  con- 
ferences. At  Worms  and  Regensburg  he  received  a  wel- 
come from  the  Protestant  German  leaders  such  as  had 
been  given  to  no  other  representative  from  Switzerland. 
Luther  was  an  admirer  of  the  theological  attainments  of 
Calvin  and  the  warm-hearted  Melanchthon  numbered  him 
among  his  best  beloved  friends. 


Calvin  Rkturns  to  Gknkva.  233 

The  name  of  Calvin  was  again  mentioned  with  the  old- 
time  affection  and  devotion  in  many  of  the.  homes  of  Ge- 
neva. The  rabble  that  had  insulted  the  great  preacher 
was  less  in  evidence  but  the  sins  they  practiced  had 
dragged  the  city  into  a  condition  of  low  immorality.  The 
strict  laws  of  the  Articles  were  still  enforced.  Every 
householder  was  compelled  to  go  to  church  and  the  Ana- 
baptists and  Romanists  had  a  hard  time.  But  matters 
were  not  moving  along  satisfactorily.  Political  compli- 
cations threatened  the  independent  existence  of  the  city. 
Private  correspondence  was  followed  by  overtures  from 
the  Council,  asking  Calvin  to  state  the  terms  under  which 
he  would  be  willing  to  return  to  Geneva.  The  memory 
of  those  April  nights  and  days  of  terror  could  not  be 
easily  effaced.  But  Calvin  loved  Geneva.  The  urgent 
appeals  that  came  from  the  Council  and  old-time  friends, 
who  had  never  faltered  in  their  attachment,  overcame 
the  distress  with  which  he  recalled  the  treatment  that  had 
sent  him  forth  as  an  exile.  Farel  was  ready  to  return 
and  his  sonorous  voice  again  urged  his  more  timorous 
friend  to  heed  the  call  of  duty. 

''Calvin  was  in  Geneva  for  the  second  time,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Lindsay,  "dragged  there  both  times  unwillingly, 
his  dream  of  a  quiet  scholar's  life  completely  shattered. 
The  work  that  lay  before  him  proved  to  be  almost  as 
hard  as  he  had  forseen  it  would  be.  The  common  idea 
that  from  this  second  entry  Calvin  w^as  master  within 
the  city,  is  quite  erroneous.  Fourteen  years  were  spent 
in  a  hard  struggle  (1541-55)  ;  and  if  the  remaining  nine 
years  of  his  life  can  be  called  his  period  of  triumph  over 
opponents  (1555-64),  it  must  be  remembered  that  he 
was  never  able  to  see  his  ideas  of  an  ecclesiastical  organi- 


234  'The:  Ri^formation. 

zatioii  wholly  carried  out  in  the  city  of  his  adoption.  One 
must  go  to  the  Protestant  Church  of  France  to  see  Cal- 
vin's idea  completely  realized."^ 

During  these  years  of  unremitting  toil  in  the  face  of 
increasing  physical  infirmities  Calvin  recodified  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  Geneva  and  made  it  a  welcome  city  of 
refuge  to  persecuted  Protestants  from  every  land.  Drawn 
into  many  theological  conflicts  he  sturdily  defended  the 
doctrinal  system  that  he  had  wrought  out  in  early  man- 
hood. The  most  memorable  of  these  controversies  was 
that  which  ended  with  the  trial  and  burning  of  Servetus. 
"It  can  be  justly  charged  against  Calvin  in  this  matter 
that  he  took  the  initiative  in  bringing  on  the  trial  of 
Servetus,  that  as  his  accuser  he  prosecuted  the  suit 
against  him  with  undue  severity,  and  that  he  approved 
the  sentence  which  condemned  Servetus  to  death.  When, 
however  it  is  remembered  that  the  unanimous  decision  of 
the  Swiss  Churches  and  of  the  Swiss  State  governments 
was  that  Servetus  deserved  to  die ;  that  the  general  voice 
of  Christendom  was  in  favor  of  this ;  that  even  such  a 
man  as  Melanchthon  affirmed  the  justice  of  the  sentence ; 
that  an  eminent  English  divine  of  the  next  age  should 
declare  the  process  against  him  'just  and  honorable,'  and 
that  only  a  few  voices  here  and  there  at  the  time  were 
raised  against  it,  many  will  be  ready  to  accept  the  judg- 
ment of  Coleridge,  that  the  death  of  Servetus  was  not 
'Calvin's  guilt  especially,  but  the  common  opprobrium  of 
all  European  Christendom,'  "^ 

^History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  127. 
-Professors    Alexander    and    Grieve.      Article    Cahin.      Ency. 
Brittanica. 


Last  Days  of  Cai.vin.  235 

The  men  whom  Calvin  trained  for  the  ministry  caught 
his  spirit  and  carried  his  principles  and  doctrines  over  the 
Continent  and  into  England  and  France.  His  influence 
and  counsel  permeated  every  part  of  the  religious,  social, 
civic  and  business  life  of  Geneva.  To  him,  it  is  said,  the 
city  owed  its  prosperous  trade  in  cloths  and  velvets.  In 
the  midst  of  all  these  varied  duties  his  pen  was  busy  to 
the  very  last.  On  the  i6th  of  February.  1564,  he 
preached  his  last  sermon.  During  months  of  illness  and 
severe  suffering  he  attended  to  such  duties  as  his  strength 
would  permit.  Only  a  few  days  before  his  death  he 
penned  his  last  letter  to  his  old  co-laborer  Farel,  who  has- 
tened from  Neuchatel  for  what  proved  a  farewell  visit. 
On  the  evening  of  May  2y,  1564,  he  expired  in  the  arms 
of  his  friend,  Theodore  Beza,  in  the  fifty-fifth  year  of  his 
age.  ''I  have  been  a  witness  of  him  for  sixteen  years," 
said  Beza,  ''and  I  think  I  am  fully  entitled  to  say  that  in 
this  man  there  was  exhibited  to  all  an  example  of  the 
life  and  death  of  the  Christian,  such  as  it  will  not  be  easy 
to  deprecate,  such  as  it  wnll  be  difficult  to  emulate." 
Among  the  numberless  tributes  that,  in  the  last  four  cen- 
turies, have  been  paid  to  the  memory  and  character  of 
Calvin  one  of  the  most  remarkable  was  penned  by  his 
countryman,  Ernest  Renan.  "It  is  surprising,"  says 
Renan,  ''that  a  man  who  appears  to  us  in  his  life  and 
writings  so  unsympathetic  should  have  been  the  centre  of 
an  immense  movement  in  his  generation,  and  that  this 
harsh  and  severe  tone  should  have  exercised  so  great  an 
influence  on  the  minds  of  his  contemporaries.  How  was 
it,  for  example,  that  one  of  the  most  distinguished  women 
of  her  time,  Renee  of  France,  in  her  court  at  Ferrara,  sur- 
rounded by  the  flower  of  European  wits,  was  captivated 


236  The:  Rki^ormation. 

by  that  stern  master,  and  by  him  drawn  into  a  course  that 
must  have  been  thickly  strewn  with  thorns?  This  kind 
of  austere  seduction  is  exercised  only  by  those  who  work 
with  real  conviction.  Lacking  that  vivid,  deep,  sympa- 
thetic ardor  which  was  one  of  the  secrets  of  Luther's  suc- 
cess, Calvin  succeeded,  in  an  age  and  in  a  country  which 
called  for  a  reaction  towards  Christianity,  simply  because 
he  was  the  most  Christian  man  of  his  generation." 

John  Calvin  was  preeminently  the  theologian  of  the 
Reformed  Churches.  His  thought  and  doctrine  is  still  a 
mighty  factor  of  influence  in  the  belief  of  a  large  section 
of  the  Church  that  holds  to  Christ  as  the  Head.  But  it 
is  the  influence  that  went  out  from  his  teachings,  as  they 
have  promoted  the  cause  of  civil  liberty,  that  has  placed 
every  lover  and  supporter  of  democratic  institutions 
under  deepest  obligation  to  the  great  Genevan  reformer. 
He  was  the  seed  sower  of  principles  that  have  made  Prot- 
estantism what  it  is  to-day;  principles  that  have  found 
leadership  on  the  battlefields  where  the  people  have  won 
their  rights  and  withstood  the  arrogancy  and  tyranny  of 
civil  and  spiritual  rulers ;  principles  that  lie  at  the  foun- 
dation of  the  New  Testament  conception  of  Church  and 
State  and  that  alone  can  be  the  basis  of  a  living,  perma- 
nent unity. 

In  closing  this  story  of  the  Reformation  in  Geneva  we 
again  recall  the  important  part  played  by  Farel.  No  one 
rejoiced  more  than  he  in  the  work  and  leadership  of  Cal- 
vin. Soon  after  he  was  recalled  to  Geneva  with  Calvin 
in  1 541  he  accepted  an  invitation  to  aid  the  cause  of 
Reformation  at  Metz.  There  is  a  tradition  that  when  he 
preached  in  the  Dominican  church  his  enemies  tried  to 
drown  his  voice  by  the  ringing  of  bells.    The  result  was 


Dkath  01?  Farkl.  237 

that  a  congregation  of  some  three  thousand  gathered  to 
hear  his  next  sermon.  The  vigor  and  fervency  of  his 
preaching  continued  into  old  age.  He  was  deeply  affected 
by  the  death  of  Calvin.  Revisiting  Metz  the  following 
year  he  preached  in  his  old  pulpit  a  sermon  that  was  filled 
with  the  fire  and  energy  of  early  years.  It  proved  a  con- 
suming flame  and  he  died  a  few  days  later. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Rkformation  In  France. 

From  the  days  in  the  Thirteenth  Century  when  the 
Albigensians  were  exterminated  by  fire  and  sword  the 
torch  of  spiritual  hght  and  dissent  against  the  supremacy 
of  Rome  was  handed  on,  not  through  revolution,  but  by 
the  reHgious  aspirations  of  the  common  people,  led  by 
choice  spirits  some  of  whom  Avere  born  in  palace  homes. 
The  story  of  Peter  Waldo  and  his  Waldensian  followers 
has  already  been  told.^ 

At  the  opening  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  a  remnant  of 
the  Waldensians  survived  in  Southern  France,  and  the 
memory  of  the  Albigensian  martyrs  was  kept  alive  in  song 
and  legend.  The  New  Learning  found  an  early  welcome 
in  France  and  a  large  number  of  Italian  scholars  and 
artists  accepted  the  invitation  that  assured  royal  favor  as 
they  made  it  their  home.  In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the 
Sorbonne,  humanistic  studies,  as  well  as  the  study  of  He- 
brew, were  enthusiastically  taken  up  by  an  increasing 
number  of  scholars.  Jacques  Lefevre,  a  native  of 
Picardy,  has  been  called  the  father  of  the  French  Refor- 
mation. Born  at  Staples  about  1455,  after  his  graduation 
at  the  University  of  Paris,  he  remained  as  a  teacher  of 
philosophy  and  became  a  prolific  writer.  In  1509-12  he 
published  commentaries  on  the  Psalms  and  Pauline  Epis- 
tles. "God  will  renovate  the  world,  and  you  will  be  a 
witness  to  it,"  he  once  said  to  his  pupil  Farel,  afterward 
the  associate  of  Calvin  at  Geneva. 

^See  page  8. 


Margare:t  01^  Navarrk  and  Francis  I.         239 

In  1521  the  Sorbonne  condemned  Luther  as  a  heretic 
and  blasphemer.  Lefevre  came  under  their  ban  and  in 
company  with  Farel,  Roussel,  and  other  priests,  they 
found  an  asyhim  at  Meaux.  The  protection  of  Briconnet 
was  soon  withdrawn  and  Lefevre  fled  to  Strasburg. 
Later  on  he  returned  and  became  attached  to  the  court  of 
Margaret  of  Navarre,  the  sister  of  Francis  L 

This  remarkable  woman  holds  a  unique  place  in  the 
story  of  the  Reformation  in  France.  While  she  did  not 
withdraw  from  the  old  Church  she  became  a  devoted  be- 
liever in  Protestant  tenets  of  faith.  Her  influence  pro- 
tected the  persecuted  Protestants  and  she  was  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  her  brother  in  his  patronage  of  artists  and  men 
of  letters.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  Francis  I.  that  he  resented 
the  action  of  the  Sorbonne  in  its  efforts  to  suppress 
heresy.  Had  not  the  fortune  of  battle  gone  against  him  at 
Pavia  there  would  not  have  been  cruel  burnings  at  Paris 
and  in  the  provinces.  Both  Francis  and  his  sister  suffered 
from  the  hate  of  those  who  sought  to  extirpate  and  de- 
stroy the  Reformation  movement  in  France.  In  this  time 
of  upheaval  swift  changes  came  in  the  life  of  all  the  Teu- 
tonic nations.  Half  of  Germany  and  Switzerland  had 
broken  their  allegiance  to  Rome.  England  (1534),  Den- 
mark (1526),  Sweden  (1527),  had  joined  in  this  great  re- 
volt. The  attitude  of  the  French  king  was  watched  with 
deep  solicitude.  He  chose  a  vacillating  course.  It  has 
been  truthfully  said,  Francis  I.  became  ''not  the  arbiter, 
but  the  prey  of  Europe."  The  soil  of  France  was  "the 
frightful  theater  of  the  battle  of  sects  and  nations.  His 
dynasty  perished  in  blood  and  mire.''^ 

1  Martin. 


240  Tiuv  Reformation. 

Francis  deplored  the  tendencies  in  the  Reformation  that 
threatened  religious  divisions  in  his  kingdom.  As  he  saw 
the  sentiments  cherished  by  scholars  and  theologians  op- 
posed to  Rome,  taking  root  in  the  life  of  the  common 
people  he  became  alarmed.  Now  taking  part  in  Catholic 
processions;  now  inviting  Melanchthon  to  visit  him  at 
Paris;  now  lifting  no  word  against  the  cruel  burning  of 
heretics,  his  conduct  was  that  of  a  weak  and  shifty  poli- 
tician. We  have  already  noted  the  part  which  Calvin  had 
in  his  early  life  in  the  Protestant  movement  in  France. 
As  the  days  and  years  went  by  Calvinism  came  to  leader- 
ship in  the  French  churches ;  churches  tested  by  the  fires 
of  cruel  persecutions. 

The  Reformation  made  rapid  headway  especially  in 
Southern  France.  Henry  II.,  unlike  his  father,  had  no 
sympathy  with  Protestantism,  but  the  progress  of  the 
reformed  faith  was  not  staid.  It  is  estimated  that  in  1558 
not  less  than  four  hundred  thousand  members  worshipped 
in  the  two  thousand  churches  organized  in  accord  with 
the  Presbyterian  polity  and  doctrine  established  by  Calvin 
at  Geneva.  Persecution  proved  a  seed  sowing  of  the 
truth.  "The  fanatics,"  says  Martin,  "and  the  politicians 
had  thought  to  annihilate  heresy  by  the  number  and  atroc- 
ity of  their  punishments;  they  perceived  with  dismay 
that  the  hydra  multiplied  itself  under  their  blows.  They 
had  succeeded  in  exalting  to  a  degree  unheard  of  before, 
all  that  there  are  of  heroic  powers  in  the  human  soul. 
For  one  martyr  who  disappeared  in  the  flames,  there  pre- 
sented themselves  a  hundred  more;  men,  women,  chil-- 
dren,  marched  to  their  punishment  singing  Psalms  and 


The  Fri^xN'ch  Martyrs.  241 

hymns.  Many  expired  in  ecstasy,  insensible  to  the  re- 
fined cruelties  of  the  savages  who  invented  tortures  to 
prolong  their  agony.  More  than  one  judge  died  of  con- 
sternation and  remorse.  Others  embraced  the  faith  of 
those  whom  they  sent  to  the  scaffold.  The  executioner 
at  Dijon  was  converted  at  the  foot  of  the  pyre.  All  the 
great  phenomenon,  in  the  most  vast  proportions,  of  the 
first  days  of  Christianity,  were  seen  to  reappear.  Most  of 
the  victims  died  with  their  eyes  turned  towards  that  New 
Jerusalem,  that  holy  city  of  the  Alps,  where  some  had 
been  to  seek,  whence  others  had  received  the  Word  of  God. 
Not  a  preacher,  not  a  missionary  was  condemned  who  did 
not  salute  Calvin  from  afar.  They  no  more  thought  of 
reproaching  Calvin  for  not  following  them  into  PVance 
than  a  soldier  reproaches  his  general  for  not  plunging 
into  the  thick  of  the  fight.'' 

When  Francis  II.  came  to  the  throne,  in  his  minority, 
his  ambitious  mother,  Catherine  de  Medici,  hoped  to  hold 
the  reins  of  power.  This  hope  was  early  thwarted  by  her 
son's  marriage  with  Mary  Stuart,  queen  of  Scotland. 
Through  her  influence  over  the  weak  and  sickly  king  her 
uncles,  the  Constable  Francis  and  the  Cardinal  of  Lor- 
raine, of  the  family  of  the  Guises,  came  to  power.  They 
took  the  government  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Constable 
de  Montmorency  and  the  princes  of  the  blood  who  en- 
tered into  alliance  with  the  Calvinists  and  other  parties 
opposed  to  the  Guises.  Dangers  thickened  about  the 
Protestants  when  the  death  of  Francis  in  1560  again 
brought  relief. 

Charles  II.  was  but  a  boy  and  came  under  the  influence 
of  his  grandmother,  Catherine  de  Medici,  who  now  re- 
joiced in  the  power  she  had  so  long  coveted.    The  Cal- 
16 


242  Th^  Reformation. 

vinistic  churches,  under  the  guidance  of  their  pastors, 
stood  firm  in  their  faith.  Leaders  of  power  joined  their 
ranks.  "Hence  those  wars  of  rehgion  which  were  to 
hold  the  monarchy  in  check  for  many  years  and  even 
force  it  to  come  to  terms."  Catherine  enjoyed  poHtical 
intrigue  and  was  indiiterent  to  religious  matters  except 
as  she  feared  ''the  royal  authority  might  be  endangered 
both  by  Calvinistic  passions  and  Catholic  violence." 
With  the  aid  of  her  ministers  she  sought  to  quiet  the  con- 
flicting parties  by  a  truce  of  peace,  but  the  storm  had  in 
it  elements  beyond  their  power  to  quell. 

The  Huguenot  forces,  led  by  Conde  and  Coligny,  had 
secured  liberty  of  conscience  and  early  in  1561  they  de- 
manded liberty  of  worship.  A  ''colloquy"  held  at  Poissy 
in  September,  1561,  between  the  cardinals  of  Lorraine 
and  Theodore  Beza  failed  in  its  purpose  and  the  Duke 
of  Guise  helped  in  a  quarrel  that  broke  out  between  the 
French  Calvinists  and  German  Lutherans.  In  spite  of 
the  efforts  of  the  new  order  of  the  Jesuits,  and  other  ad- 
verse circumstances,  the  edict  promulgated  January  17, 
1562,  enfranchised  the  Protestants.  The  Council  of 
Trent  rendered  the  edict  of  no  avail.  The  party  of  the 
Guises  had  gained  complete  control  over  both  Catherine 
and  the  King.  The  massacre  of  Vassy,  in  which  two 
hundred  Protestants  perished,  occurred  March  i,  1562. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  fratricidal  strife  in  which  fero- 
cious passions  had  full  play.  The  contestants  sought  the 
aid  of  their  allies  outside  of  France.  English  cavalry  and 
German  soldiers  fought  for  Protestant  ascendency 
against  Italian,  Spanish  and  Swiss  emissaries  employed 
by  the  royal  army.  In  Normandy,  the  valley  of  the  Loire, 
and  in  Orleans  these  religious  conflicts  were  fought  with 


The  Massacre  oe  vSt.  Bartholomew.  243 

relentless  passion.  The  death  of  the  foremost  leaders 
of  the  Guises  placed  Catherine  at  tlie  head  of  the  Catholic 
party.  The  patched  up  peace  of  Amboise  (1563)  lasted 
for  three  years.  The  Guises  then  reopened  the  conflict 
against  Coligny  and  the  religious  war  was  again  in  full 
force. 

The  treaty  signed  at  St.  Germain,  August,  1570,  con- 
ceded liberty  of  conscience  and  worship  to  the  Protest- 
ants. Coligny  was  now  supported  by  the  Queen  of  Na- 
varre and  Charles  IX.  This  favor  increased  the  anger 
of  Catherine  de  Medici.  Following  the  failure  of  plans 
that  sought  the  life  of  Coligny  Catherine,  with  the  help 
of  the  Guises,  arranged  the  plot  that  culminated  in  the 
massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  Eve  and  the  murder  of 
Coligny. 

It  was  a  sad  hour  for  the  Protestants  of  France.  The 
intrigues  of  court  and  camp  and  an  excess  of  repressive 
measures  brought  some  relief.  The  Peace  of  Monsieur 
(1576)  again  secured  freedom  of  worship  and  the  sur- 
vivors of  the  massacre  of  1572  and  their  fortified  towns 
were  given  an  equal  representation  in  the  parliaments. 
Taking  another  line  of  attack  a  Catholic  League  was 
formed  under  the  leadership  of  the  Guises,  and  efforts 
were  made  to  destroy  Calvinism  through  an  imitation  of 
the  Protestant  form  of  organization.  This  scheme  of 
colossal  hypocrisy  led  to  complications  that  cover  the 
pages  of  the  history  of  France  at  this  period  with  the 
cruel  deeds  of  warring  factions.  The  Protestants  gained 
in  strength,  the  League  dissolved,  and  Henry  IV.  came  to 
terms  by  the  edict  signed  at  Nantes,  April  13,  1598.  This 
compromise  between  the  royal  government  and  the  Hu- 


244  The  RepoRxMation. 

gueiiot  government  gave  the  Protestants  rights  and  privi- 
leges beyond  that  enjoyed  in  an}^  other  country.  "But  if 
the  accession  of  Heniy  IV.  brought  a  comparative  se- 
curity to  the  Calvinists  of  France,  this  was  the  Hmit  of  its 
advantages  to  them.  From  a  religious  body,  animated 
with  the  purpose  to  bring  the  whole  country  to  the  adop- 
tion of  their  principles,  they  were  reduced  to  the  con- 
dition of  a  defensive  party,  confined  by  metes  and 
bounds,  which  it  could  not  overpass ;  a  party  more  and 
more  separated  from  the  Catholic  population,  and  ex- 
posed, besides,  to  the  evils  consequent  on  keeping  up  a 
political  and  military  organization.  From  this  moment 
Protestantism  in  France  ceased  to  grow."^ 

The  horrible  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew  (1572),  in 
which  the  great  Huguenot  leader  Coligny  lost  his  life,  is 
the  tragic  hour  in  civil  wars  that  did  not  cease  until  the 
Edict  of  Nantes  (1598).  Its  revocation  in  1685  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  banishment  of  the  Huguenots  from  France. 
Some  of  them  found  homes  in  England,  and  their  silk  and 
looms  added  to  its  wealth.  Others  crossed  the  Atlantic 
and  in  family  groups  settled  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York 
and  at  points  on  the  seaboard  as  far  south  as  Charleston. 
It  has  been  truthfully  asserted  by  a  modern  historian,  re- 
calling the  persecutions  and  outrageous  breaking  of 
every  law  of  liberty  and  treaty  rights  in  the  revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  "was  committed  one  of  the  most 
flagrant  political  and  religious  blunders  in  the  history  of 
France,  which  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  lost  more 
than  400,000  of  its  inhabitants,  men  who,  having  to  choose 
between  their  conscience  and  their  country,  endowed  the 

1  Professor  George  P.  Fisher.    The  Reformation,  p.  244, 


The  French  Protestant  Churches.  245 

nations  which  received  them  with  their  heriosni,  their 
courage  and  their  abihty."^ 

The  recent  rehabihtation  and  growth  of  French  Prot- 
estantism is  a  matter  of  profound  gratitude  throughout 
the  world.  In  1802  it  numbered  scarcely  100  pastors. 
To-day  it  has  over  900  churches  and  180  presbyteries. 
In  the  war  that  has  tested  France  as  by  fire  these  churches 
have  suffered  beyond  measure.  The  United  States, 
through  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches,  has  given 
welcome  aid  in  this  hour  of  sore  distress. 

iPeaux.  Article  Huguenots.  Ency.  Brittanica.  Eleventh  edi- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The;  ^formation  in  the  Ne:theri.ands. 

The  Netherlands  were  the  last  of  the  European  powers 
to  revolt  from  Rome,  but  within  their  national  life  the 
forces  had  long  been  gathering  strength  for  the  conflict 
that  fills  one  of  the  great  pages  of  history;  a  conflict  that 
finally  secured  their  religious  and  civil  freedom  and  made 
the  Netherlands  a  foremost  champion  of  Protestant  prin- 
ciples. 

Originally  a  part  of  the  Burgundian  provinces,  the 
Netherlands  came  to  the  Spanish  crown  by  the  marriage 
alliance  of  the  mother  of  Charles  V.  The  seventeen  prov- 
inces of  the  Duchy  of  Burgundy  were  nearly  co-extensive 
with  the  territory  that  now  includes  Holland  and  Bel- 
gium. The  skill  and  intelligence  of  her  thrifty  artisans, 
farmers,  and  burghers,  had  made  the  entire  country  a 
veritable  beehive  of  prosperous  industry.  Antwerp  was 
the  chief  among  the  three  hundred  and  fifty  cities  of  the 
Low  Countries.  Science  and  letters  flourished.  '*It  was 
their  boast  that  common  laborers,  even  the  fishermen  who 
dwelt  in  the  huts  of  Friesland,  could  read  and  write,  and 
discuss  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  Local  govern- 
ment existed  to  a  remarkable  extent  throughout  the  sev- 
enteen provinces.  Each  had  its  own  chartered  rights, 
privileges,  and  immunities,  and  its  immemorial  customs, 
which  the  sovereign  was  bound  to  keep  inviolate.  The 
people  loved  their  freedom."^ 

^Professor  George  P.  Fisher.    The  Reformation,  p.  245. 

246 


The  Nf:THi:RLAND  Martyrs.  247 

The  doctrines  and  reforms  promulgated  by  Luther 
found  large  welcome  in  the  Netherlands.  They  were  by 
no  means  new  to  this  liberty-loving  people.  "Nor  did  the 
Rhine  from  Germany,  or  the  Meuse  from  France,"  says 
the  Jesuit  historian  Strada,  "send  more  water  into  the 
Low  Countries  than  by  the  one  the  contagion  of  Luther, 
by  the  other  of  Calvin,  was  imported  into  the  same  Belgic 
provinces." 

Charles  established  the  Inquisition^  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries in  1522.  Its  first  victim  was  Cornelius  Grapheus, 
town  clerk  of  Antwerp  and  a  friend  of  Erasmus.  He 
suffered  imprisonment  and  banishment.  The  first  mar- 
tyrs of  the  Reformation  were  two  Augustinian  monks, 
Henry  Voes  and  John  Esch.  They  died  in  the  triumph  of 
faith.  On  their  way  to  the  stake  (Antwerp,  July  31, 
1523,)  "they  cried  with  a  loud  voice  that  they  were  Chris- 
tians." As  the  flames  swept  about  them  they  recited  the 
Creed  and  "after  that  the  hymn  Te  Deum  laudamus, 
which  each  of  them  sang  verse  by  verse  alternately  until 
the  flames  deprived  them  both  of  voice  and  life."- 

When  Luther  learned  of  the  martyrdom  of  these 
Netherland  monks —  members  of  the  order  to  which  he 
belonged — he  wrote  a  message  of  condolence  and  hope  to 
the  persecuted  Christians  of  the  Low  Countries,  and  his 
heart  broke  forth  in  the  inspiring  strains  of  his  hymn,  A 
New  Song  of  the  tzvo  Martyrs  of  Christ  Burnt  at  Brus- 

^This  terrible  instrument  of  persecution  was  founded  by  Inno- 
cent III.  in  1215.  Its  horrors  constitute  one  of  the  darkest,  sad- 
dest, pages  in  all  history.  "The  prisoners  of  the  Inquisition  were 
never  confronted  by  witnesses,  but  were  imprisoned  and  tor- 
tured to  make  them  confess  and  recant  their  errors." 

-Brandt.     The  History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  I,  p.  49. 


248  Thk  Reformation. 

sels.     One  of  its  stanzas  has  been  translated  in  these 
words : 

''Quiet  their  ashes  will  not  lie; 

But  scattered  far  and  near, 
Stream,  dungeon,  bolt,  and  grave  defy, 

Their  foeman's  shame  and  fear. 
Those  whom  alive  the  tyrant's  wrongs 

To  silence  could  subdue, 
He  must,  when  dead,  let  sing  the  songs 
Which  in  all  languages  and  tongues, 

Resound  the  wide  world  through." 

Proclamation  after  proclamation  was  issued  by  Charles 
condemning  heresy  and  forbidding  the  printing  of  books 
that  were  not  approved  by  the  censors.  The  holding  of 
meetings  to  "read  or  preach  about  the  Gospel  or  other  holy 
writings  in  Latin,  Flemish  or  Walloon,  was  forbidden." 
These  edicts  had  for  their  purpose  the  suppression  of  the 
teaching  of  Lutheran  doctrines.  Anabaptists  were  looked 
after  in  other  ways. 

Circumstances  held  somewhat  in  abeyance  the  perse- 
cution of  heretics  during  the  reign  of  Charles  V.  His 
aunt,  jNIargaret  of  Austria,  who  was  regent  till  1530,  was 
not  eager  to  carry  out  her  nephew's  edicts  and  his  sister 
Mary,  who  ruled  from  1530  until  Charles'  abdication  in 
1555,  was  even  suspected  in  early  life  of  being  a  Lutheran 
convert.  There  is  little  doubt  but  that  she  sympathized 
for  a  time  with  the  views  of  her  sister,  the  Queen  of  Den- 
mark, who  had  joined  the  Lutheran  Church.  After  en- 
tering on  the  duties  of  the  Regency  she  appears  to  have 
become  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  purposes  and  plans 


Extermination  of  Lutiikrans.  249 

of  her  brother.  His  reiterated  and  vindictive  commands 
brought  a  muhitude  of  victims  to  the  stake.  The  fanat- 
ical outbreak  under  the  leadership  of  John  Boccold  of 
Leyden,  was  made  an  excuse  also  for  exterminating  the 
followers  of  Luther.  ''Thousands  and  tens  of  thousands 
of  virtuous,  well  disposed  men  and  women,  who  had  as 
little  sympathy  with  anabaptistical  as  with  Roman  de- 
pravity, were  butchered  in  cold  blood,  under  the  san- 
guinary rule  of  Charles,  in  the  Netherlands.  In  1533 
Queen  Dowager  Mary  of  Hungary,  sister  of  the  Em- 
peror, Regent  of  the  provinces,  the  'Christian  widow'  ad- 
mired by  Erasmus,  wrote  to  her  brother  that  'in  her  opin- 
ion all  heretics,  whether  repentant  or  not,  should  be  prose- 
cuted with  such  severity  as  that  error  might  be,  at  once, 
extinguished,  care  being  only  taken  that  the  provinces 
were  not  entirely  depopulated.'  With  this  humane  limi- 
tation, the  'Christian  widow'  cheerfully  set  herself  to  su- 
perintend as  foul  and  wholesale  a  system  of  murder  as 
was  ever  organized.  In  1535  an  imperial  edict  was  issued 
at  Brussels,  condemning  all  heretics  to  death;  repentant 
males  to  be  executed  with  the  sword ;  repentant  females 
to  be  buried  alive ;  the  obstinate,  of  both  sexes,  to  be 
burned.  This  and  similar  edicts  were  the  law  of  the  land 
for  twenty  years,  and  rigidly  enforced.  Imperial  and 
papal  persecution  continued  its  deadly  work  with  such 
diligence  as  to  make  it  doubtful  whether  the  limits  set  l)y 
the  Regent  Mary  might  not  be  overstepped.  In  the  midst 
of  the  carnage  the  Emperor  sent  for  his  son  Philip,  that 
he  might  receive  the  fealty  of  the  Netherlands  as  their 
future  lord  and  master.  Contemporaneously  a  new  edict 
was  published  at  Brussels  (April  29,  1549,)  confirming 
and  reenacting  all  previous  decrees  in  their  most  severe 


250  The  Rei-'ormation. 

provisions.  Thus  stood  religious  matters  in  the  Nether- 
lands at  the  epoch  of  the  imperial  abdication."^ 

At  the  time  when  Charles  V.  dropped  the  reins  of  im- 
perial power  he  was  a  broken,  decrepit,  disappointed  man 
of  fifty-five  years.  His  son,  Philip  the  Second,  was 
twenty-eight  years  old.  The  scene  in  the  great  hall  of 
the  palace  of  Brussels  (October  25,  1555,)  v/hen  Charles 
V.  abdicated  his  throne  in  favor  of  his  son,  is  one  that 
historians  have  painted  in  vivid  colors.  Supported  by  a 
crutch  and  with  one  hand  resting  upon  a  young  prince  of 
the  realm,  William  of  Orange,  he  made  the  notable  ad- 
dress in  which  under  the  most  spectacular  surroundings 
he  transferred  his  royal  prerogatives  to  Philip  II,  "whose 
single  will  was,  for  the  future,  to  shape  the  fortunes  of 
every  individual  then  present  of  many  millions  more  in 
Europe,  America,  and  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  of 
countless  millions  yet  unborn."- 

Charles  in  the  retirement  of  the  cloister  did  not  change 
in  character.  Brooding  over  his  failure  to  crush  the 
Reformation  he  cherished  an  implacable  hatred  of  its 
great  leader.  To  the  last  he  expressed  his  regret  that  he 
had  allowed  Luther  to  escape  out  of  his  hands  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms.  Notwithstanding  his  cruel  persecution 
of  the  Lutherans,  and  others  of  the  Reformed  faith,  the 
Netherlands  never  forgot  that  he  was  of  blood  akin  to 
their  own.  Philip  had  been  bom  in  Spain.  They  looked 
upon  him  as  a  foreigner  and  from  the  beginning  of  his 
reign  his  cold,  cruel  nature  repelled  his  subjects  in  the 
Low  Country  at  every  point.     His  marriage  with  the 

^Motley's  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic. 
2Ibid. 


WiijjAM  Princi:  01^  Okangk.  251 

Queen  of  England  (July  25,  1554,)  was  fraught  with 
far-reaching  influences  that,  out  of  the  welter  of  blood 
and  heroic  endurance  that  marked  the  birth  of  the  Dutch 
Republic,  advanced  in  ways  that  he  little  imagined  the 
work  of  Reformation  and  the  victories  of  Protestant 
faith. 

The  first  four  years  of  his  reign  Philip  II.  spent  in  the 
Netherlands.  He  sought  to  carry  out  his  father's  policies. 
The  feeling  of  opposition  to  the  burdensome  exactions 
that  had  long  oppressed  the  nation  more  and  more  found 
expression  through  the  States  General.  Philip  detested 
the  liberty-loving  and  prosperous  Netherlands  and  they 
detested  him.  In  1559  he  left  the  country  never  to  re- 
turn. Margaret  of  Parma,  his  half-sister,  was  appointed 
Regent.  She  followed  the  advice  of  three  Councils  that 
were  presided  over  by  three  men  chosen  by  Philip.  The 
Council  of  State  virtually  controlled  affairs  and  this 
Council  was  guided  by  the  three  presidents:  the  Bishop 
of  Arras  (Cardinal  de  Granvelle)  ;  the  Baron  de  Barlay- 
mont,  and  Virgilius  van  Aytta;  and  two  Netherland 
nobles,  Lamoral,  Count  of  Egmont,  and  William  Prince 
of  Orange.  These  nobles  seldom  attended  the  sessions 
of  the  Council.  From  his  room  in  the  Escurial  in  Mad- 
rid Philip  kept  his  hands,  with  indomitable  industry,  upon 
the  strings  that  controlled  the  multiplied  activities  that 
sought  to  destroy  heresy  and  heretics.  The  Reformation 
staid  not  in  its  course.  Political  blunders  still  further 
aroused  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  nobility  and  gradually 
the  Prince  of  Orange  and  Count  Egmont  became  the 
leaders  in  a  growing  revolt  against  Spanish  rule.  The 
way  in  which  they  had  been  virtually  ignored  as  members 
of  the  Council  gave  these  men  an  excuse  for  resigning 


252  Thk  Reformation. 

their  office.  The  growing  opposition  was  founded  both 
on  political  and  religious  grounds  and  aggravated  by 
Philip's  failure  to  keep  his  promise  in  withdrawing  the 
Spanish  troops  from  the  country.  William  of  Orange 
now  comes  to  the  front  as  the  champion  of  the  people 
whose  fury  waxed  to  white  heat.  Not  only  were  the 
hated  Spanish  soldiers  billeted  upon  them  but  the  inquisi- 
torial courts  in  pushing  their  wretched  work  had  violated 
many  of  the  charters  of  the  provinces.  Matters  came  to 
a  head  in  the  sending  of  Count  Egmont  to  Madrid.  The 
duplicity  of  Philip  was  finally  illustrated.  He  met  the 
Count  with  so  pleasant  a  welcome  that  Avhen  he  started 
homeward  he  supposed  his  appeals  had  secured  a  favor- 
able response.  When  the  sealed  letter  which  he  bore  to 
the  Council  was  opened  he  discovered  how  cruelly  he  had 
been  deceived. 

A  dispatch  from  the  Escurial  later  on  (November  5, 
1565,)  ordered  the  immediate  enforcement  of  the  Decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  every  part  of  the  provinces. 
The  Netherlands  rose  in  arms.  The  official  leaders  of  the 
towns  declared  that  they  would  resign  their  places  before 
they  would  execute  these  decrees.  The  wheels  of  busy 
industries  were  idle.  The  main  object  of  thought  and 
action  was  to  discover  the  path  of  deliverance  from  Span- 
ish oppression  and  papal  tyranny.  Pamphlets  aflame  with 
passionate  appeals  were  scattered  broadcast  through  the 
provinces.  ''We  are  ready  to  die  for  the  Gospel,"  they 
said,  "but  we  read  therein,  'Render  unto  Csesar  the  things 
which  are  Caesar's  and  unto  God  the  things  which  are 
God's.*  We  thank  God  that  even  our  enemies  are  con- 
strained to  bear  witness  to  our  piety  and  innocence,  for 
it  is  a  common  saying:    'He  does  not  swear,  for  he  is  a 


The  Compromise  oE  1566.  253 

Protestant.  He  is  not  an  immoral  man  or  a  drunkard, 
for  he  belongs  to  the  new  sect' ;  yet  we  are  subjected  to 
every  kind  of  punishment  that  can  be  invented  to  tor- 
ment us." 

The  famous  Compromise  issued  early  in  the  year  1566 
brings  upon  the  stage  leaders  whose  names  are  among  the 
founders  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  the  Reformed  faith. 
Foremost  among  them  is  Francis  Junius,  pastor  of  a  con- 
gregation of  Huguenots  who  met  in  secret  at  Antwerp.  The 
son  of  a  noble  French  family,  he  had  studied  at  Geneva. 
He  was  noted  alike  for  his  eloquence  and  his  courage. 
Daring  even  to  proclaim  Evangelical  doctrines  in  a  room 
that  at  the  very  moment  looked  out  upon  the  market- 
place where  heretics  were  burning,  it  is  little  wonder  that 
his  message  found  response  in  the  hearts  of  men  who  then 
and  there  resolved  that  they  would  form  a  league  against 
"the  barbarous  and  violent  inquisition."  A  like  resolve 
was  taken  about  this  time  by  other  influential  men  and 
not  long  after  the  Compromise,  probably  drafted  by  the 
accomplished  Sainte  Aldegonde,  was  circulated  for  signa- 
tures. Among  the  more  than  two  thousand  names  ap- 
pended to  this  document  were  not  only  Lutheran  but  Cal- 
vinist  and  Roman  Catholic  nobles.  Unfortunately  this 
movement  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  gi'oup  of  the  younger 
nobility  who  disgraced  both  themselves  and  the  cause  they 
represented  by  riotous  excesses.  The  Prince  of  Orange 
held  aloof  from  the  secret  gatherings  of  this  league  and 
its  turbulent  spirit.  But  the  Compromise  set  forth  griev- 
ances and  made  an  appeal  tliat  had  the  full  approval  of 
Orange  and  other  great  nobles. 

While  Margaret  of  Parma  was  bitterly  bewailing  the 
conditions  stirred  np  by  the  inquisitorial  decree  of  her 


254  'I'ill^  Rlil^ORMATlON. 

brother,  Philip  was  busy  in  preparation  for  the  contest 
he  knew  could  not  long  be  delayed.  It  was  a  time  of  deep 
distress  in  the  Netherlands.  Trade  had  almost  ceased; 
grass  was  growing  in  the  once  busy  streets  of  her  chief 
cities;  large  numbers  were  finding  refuge  from  persecu- 
tion in  Protestant  England,  and  famine  was  causing  acute 
suffering.  It  was  estimated  that  at  least  fifty  thousand 
victims  had  been  executed  under  the  decrees  of  Philip.  In 
this  hour  of  distress  the  calm  but  noble  form  of  William, 
Prince  of  Orange,  comes  to  the  front.  Rebuking  turbu- 
lent spirits,  he  gave  counsel  and  encouragement  to  his 
fellow  nobles  and  also  to  those  who  with  patriotic  zeal 
sought  to  secure  the  rights  that  the  King  of  Spain  was 
trampling  upon.  Philip  thought  to  stay  the  storm  by  his 
old-time  policy  of  duplicity.  He  sent  messages  to  Marga- 
ret that  promised  relief.  Refugees  returned  from  England, 
Germany,  France,  and  Switzerland.  Religious  services 
were  held  in  the  fields,  where  armed  men  surrounded  as 
sentinel  guards,  the  congregations  that  again  sang  in  Flem- 
ish, Dutch  and  French  the  hymns  and  Psalms  they  loved 
so  well  and  that  had  been  upon  the  lips  of  beloved  friends 
and  companions  as  they  had  gone  to  their  martyr's  death. 
The  Spanish  soldiers  feared  to  molest  these  devoted  wor-- 
shipers.  Emboldened,  the  reformers  marched  through  the 
streets  singing  their  hymns  of  praise.  Great  conferences 
were  held  in  which  men  like  Louis  of  Nassau  took  part. 
These  demonstrations  of  popular  feeling  impressed  even 
Philip  and  he  sent  word  in  the  summer  of  1566  that  he 
was  about  to  withdraw  the  papal  Inquisition  from  the 
Netherlands  and  grant  a  large  measure  of  tolerance.  He 
declined,  however,  to  allow  the  States  General  to  be  sum- 
moned. 


The  Sacking  oi^  Antwerp.  255 

The  astute  Prince  of  Orange  had  long  fathomed  the 
double  dealing  treacherous  character  of  Philip.  His 
promises  had  little  worth  in  his  estimation.  Again  the 
great  Protestant  leader,  and  the  cause  he  advocated,  had 
to  suffer  sadly  from  the  mob  turbulance  that  was  incited 
by  the  social  and  economic  distress  caused  by  the  persecu- 
tions of  the  Inquisition.  The  sacking  of  the  great  cathe- 
dral of  Antwerp  was  the  culmination  of  this  mad  out- 
break of  iconoclastic  fury.  The  effects  of  this  disastrous 
storm  of  angry  and  ill  advised  conflict  was  far-reaching 
in  its  influence.  The  more  liberal  Roman  Catholics  were 
alienated  and  the  cleavage  began  that  separated  the  Prot- 
estants of  the  North  from  the  Romanists  of  the  South. 
Margaret  was  enraged  and  as  far  as  possible  withdrew 
the  privileges  that  had  been  granted  to  the  Reformed 
faith. 

Having  done  all  that  lay  in  his  pov»^er  to  stay  the  tide 
of  anarchy  William  of  Orange  retired  to  his  ancestral 
home  at  Dillenburg.  Here  he  watched  for  the  path  in 
which  Philip  would  disclose  his  duplicity.  He  had  not 
long  to  wait.  Word  came  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  with  a 
strong  force  of  veteran  Spanish  soldiers  were  making 
their  way  over  the  Alps  and  through  France.  When  he 
arrived  at  Brussels  he  presented  credentials  that  virtually 
made  him  dictator.  The  Counts  Egmont  and  Hoorn, 
with  many  others,  were  arrested.  Alva  at  once  created  a 
judicial  chamber  popularly  known  as  The  Bloody  Tri- 
bunal, that  paid  no  attention  to  the  Council  of  State  and 
overruled  in  its  decisions  every  other  court  in  the  Nether- 
lands. The  work  of  this  horrible  Council  of  Tumults  was 
almost  inconceivable  in  its  cruelty  and  injustice.  A  con- 
temporary historian  says :  ''The  gallows,  the  wheel,  stakes, 
trees  along  the  highways  were  laden  with  carcasses  or 


256  Tne  Reformation. 

limbs  of  those  who  had  been  hanged,  beheaded,  or 
roasted;  so  that  the  air  which  God  made  for  respiration 
of  the  living,  was  now  become  the  common  grave  or  habi- 
tation of  the  dead.  Every  day  produced  fresh  objects  of 
pity  and  of  mourning,  and  the  noise  of  the  bloody  passing- 
bell  was  continually  heard,  which  by  the  martyrdom  of 
this  man's  cousin  and  the  other's  brother  or  friend,  rang 
dismal  peals  in  the  hearts  of  the  survivors."^ 

The  Prince  of  Orange  was  outlawed  and  his  property 
confiscated.  The  *'lion"  within  him  was  aroused  and  he 
bent  every  energy  to  enlist  an  army  and  face  the  Spanish 
forces  in  the  Netherlands.  His  brother,  John  of  Nassau, 
aided  him  even  to  the  pledging  of  his  estate.  Defeat  after 
defeat  in  the  conflict  with  the  trained  soldiers  of  Alva 
did  not  dishearten  or  dismay  the  Prince.  "With  God's 
help,"  he  wrote  to  his  brother  Louis,  "I  am  determined 
to  go  on."  The  days  brought  no  relief  and  difficulties 
thickened.  Pursued  by  creditors,  to  meet  whose  claims 
he  had  sold  his  plate  and  jewels,  in  fear  of  assassination, 
and  burdened  with  domestic  troubles,  the  man  who  was 
finally  to  achieve  a  place  among  the  immortal  characters 
of  history,  wandered  from  place  to  place.  He  was  lit- 
erally homeless.  But  the  barbarities  of  Alva  became  un- 
endurable and  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  William  and 
his  brother  were  finally  crowned  with  success.  The  revolt 
that  started  with  the  seizure  of  the  seaport  of  Flushing 
in  1572  spread  through  Holland,  Zealand,  Utrecht,  and 
Friesland.  The  Prince  of  Orange  was  acclaimed  on 
every  side.  After  varying  fortunes  in  arms  he  settled  at 
Delft  and  thenceforth  became  the  leader  of  the  Holland- 

^Brandt.    History  of  Refoynmtion,  p.  261. 


Thi:  Work  oi^  Wili^iam  oi^  Orange:.  257 

ers  and  Zealanders  in  the  struggle  that  founded  the 
Dutch  RepubHc. 

"In  order  to  identify  himself  more  closely  with  the  cause 
for  which  he  Avas  fighting,  Orange  had,  on  October  23, 
1573,  made  a  public  confession  of  the  Calvinist  religion. 
But  he  was  never  a  bigot  in  religious  matters.  The  three 
conditions  which  he  laid  down  as  the  irreducible  minimum 
on  which  negotiations  could  be  based,  and  from  which 
he  never  departed,  were  (i)  freedom  of  v/orship  and 
liberty  to  preach  the  Gospel  according  to  the  Word  of 
God;  (2)  the  restoration  and  maintenance  of  all  the 
ancient  charters,  privileges  and  liberties  of  the  land;  (3) 
the  withdrawal  of  all  Spaniards  and  other  foreigners 
from  all  posts  and  employments,  civil  and  military.  On 
these  points  he  was  inflexible,  but  he  was  a  thoroughly 
moderate  man.  He  hated  religious  tyranny  whether  it 
were  exercised  by  Papist  or  Calvinist  and  his  political 
aims  were  not  self-seeking.  His  object  was  to  prevent 
the  liberties  of  the  Netherlands  from  being  trampled 
under  foot  by  a  foreign  despotism,  and  he  did  not  counsel 
the  provinces  to  abjure  their  allegiance  to  Philip  until 
he  found  the  Spanish  monarch  was  intractable.  But 
when  the  abjuration  became  a  necessity  he  sought  to  find 
in  Elizabeth  of  England  or  the  Duke  of  Anjou,  a  sov- 
ereign possessing  sufficient  resources  to  protect  the  land 
from  the  Spaniard."^ 

In  the  spring  of  1576  a  union  was  consummated  be- 
tween Holland  and  Zeeland  by  which  William  was  given 
supreme  authority  as  ad  interim  ruler.    Southern  Nether- 

iGeorge  Edmunson.  Article  William  of  Orange.  Ency.  Brit- 
tanica.     Eleventh  edition. 

17 


258  The:  Reformation. 

lands,  this  same  year,  suffering  from  the  excesses  of 
Spanish  soldiers,  was  ripe  for  revolt.  The  so-called 
''Spanish  Fury"  on  the  morning  of  November  5th  (1576), 
found  the  city  of  Antwerp  a  scene  of  desolation  and 
death.  "Of  all  the  deeds  of  darkness  yet  compassed  in 
the  Netherlands,  this  v^as  the  worst.  The  city  which  had 
been  a  world  of  wealth  and  splendor  was  changed  to  a 
charnel-house,  and  from  that  hour  its  commercial  pros- 
perity was  blasted."^ 

The  outcome  of  this  burst  of  Spanish  hate  was  the 
adoption  of  the  "Pacification  of  Ghent,*'  by  which,  under 
the  leadership  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  entire  seven- 
teen provinces  formed  a  league  to  drive  the  hired  soldiers 
of  Philip  from  the  Netherlands.  In  January  (1577),  the 
southern  provinces  supplemented  this  action  by  a  pledge 
to  maintain  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  and  continue 
their  allegiance  to  the  authority  of  the  King.  This  action 
was  assented  to  by  William  and  he  himself  acted  as  a 
stadtholder  under  the  King's  commission.  September 
23d  was  a  triumph  hour  for  the  great  leader  of  the  Neth- 
erlands. In  the  procession  that  filled  the  streets  of  Brus-' 
sels  Catholics  and  Protestants  marched  side  by  side.  This 
hour  of  triumph  was  soon  shadowed  by  the  intrigues  of 
ambitious  men  who  sought  to  gain  the  place  of  leadership. 
Philip  discovered  in  Alexander  Farnese,  Prince  of 
Parma,  whom  he  appointed  governor  general,  a  foeman 
whose  ability  put  William  of  Orange  to  the  severest  test. 
Stirring  up  the  jealousy  of  the  Catholic  nobles  of  the 
South,  Farnese  won  their  adherence.  From  the  time  of 
the  signing  of  the  "Union  of  Utrecht"  (January  29,  1579), 

^Motley.     The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  ReptMc. 


Assassination  oi^  the  Prince:  of  Orangiv.      259 

Northern  and  Southern  Netherlands  opened  separate 
chapters  in  history. 

In  1 581  PhiHp  pubHshed  the  ban  that  denounced  the 
Prince  of  Orange  as  a  traitor  and  outlaw.  This  action 
drew  from  the  pen  of  William  the  Apology  that  arraigned 
Philip  for  his  horrible  treatment  of  his  Netherland  sub- 
jects and  gave  an  outline  of  his  own  career.  The  Prince 
at  this  juncture  sought  the  aid  of  France  and  proposed 
to  make  the  Duke  of  Anjou  King  of  the  United  Prov- 
inces. This  suggestion  did  not  meet  the  approval  of  Hol- 
land and  Zeeland.  Contrary  to  his  wish  he  finally  yielded 
to  their  request  to  accept  their  countship.  Two  days  later 
(July  26,  1 58 1,)  Brabant,  Flanders,  Utrecht,  Gelderland, 
Holland,  and  Zeeland  in  council  at  the  Hague,  abjured 
the  sovereignty  of  Philip  and  agreed  to  accept  the  king- 
ship of  Anjou,  who  was  inaugurated  as  Duke  of  Brabant 
at  Antwerp,  February  19,  1582.  A  few  days  later  Wil- 
liam nearly  lost  his  life  by  the  shot  of  an  assassin.  But 
his  work  was  not  yet  done.  Anjou  proved  a  weak  and 
treacherous  leader.  The  fiasco,  known  as  the  "French 
Fury,"  by  which  he  hoped  to  strengthen  his  royal  author- 
ity, brought  upon  him  a  contempt  in  which,  for  a  time, 
William  innocently  suffered.  In  the  spring  of  1583  the 
Prince  married  the  widowed  daughter  of  Coligny,  the 
great  Huguenot  leader,  and  made  his  permanent  home  at 
Delft.  As  the  beloved  and  trusted  head  of  his  loyal  Hol- 
landers and  Zeelanders  he  lived  a  quiet  unostentatious 
life  until  his  enemies  compassed  their  long  planned  pur- 
pose in  his  assassination,  July  9,  1584. 

*'Of  his  moral  qualities,"  says  Motley,  "the  most  promi- 
nent was  his  piety.  He  was  more  than  anything  else  a 
religious  man.     From  his  trust  in  God  he  ever  derived 


26o  The  Rei^ormation. 

support  and"  consolation  in  the  darkest  hours.  Implicitly 
relying  upon  Almighty  wisdom  and  goodness,  he  looked 
danger  in  the  face  with  a  constant  smile,  and  endured  in- 
cessant labors  and  trials  with  a  serenity  which  seemed 
more  than  human.  While,  however,  his  soul  was  full  of 
piety,  it  was  tolerant  of  error.  Sincerely  and  deliberately 
himself  a  convert  to  the  Reformed  Church,  he  was  ready 
to  extend  freedom  of  worship  to  Catholics  on  the  one 
hand,  and  to  Anabaptists  on  the  other,  for  no  man  ever 
felt  more  keenly  than  he,  that  the  reformer  who  becomes 
in  his  turn  a  bigot  is  doubly  odious." 

The  sufferings  of  those  who  held  to  the  Reformed  faith 
in  these  years,  in  which  the  foundations  of  the  Dutch 
Republic  were  laid,  forms  a  sad  but  heroic  chapter  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation.  During  the  period  in  which  the 
Spanish  Fury  raged  in  the  streets  of  Antwerp  more  vic- 
tims were  massacred  than  on  the  night  of  St.  Bartholo- 
mew. The  sufferings  of  the  burghers  of  Ghent  who  were 
loyal  to  Christ  and  the  Reformed  faith  in  the  days  when 
the  Duke  of  Parm.a  reduced  the  once  proud  and  wealthy 
city  to  a  condition  of  poverty  and  anarchy,  revealed  a 
heroic  steadfastness  of  character  that  is  a  heritage  both 
of  blood  and  faith  that  has  been  a  powerful  factor  of  in- 
fluence in  the  political  and  religious  life  of  both  England 
and  the  United  States.  The  memorable  treaty  of  union, 
published  January  29,  1579,  from  the  town-house  of 
Utrecht,  may  well  stand  by  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence signed  at  Philadelphia,  July  4,  1776,  and  the  por- 
traits of  Washington  and  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
are  worthy  to  hang  side  by  side  in  the  gallery  of  history. 

While  the  storm  of  persecution  was  raging  about  them 
the  Netherlanders  organized  churches  and  history  makes 


Founding  oi^  the;  Re:i^orme:d  Church.  261 

record  of  a  synod  held  in  1563  in  which  the  delegates 
bound  themselves  in  a  compact  of  doctrine  and  discipline. 
The  first  preachers  of  the  Reformation  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries were  Lutherans,  and  they  found  followers  especially 
among  the  lesser  nobility  and  the  wealthy  burghers.  The 
views  of  Zwingli  were  favored  by  many.  The  Southern 
provinces,  where  French  was  spoken,  came  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  teachers  trained  by  Calvin  at  Geneva.  In 
time  Lutheranism  and  Zwinglianism  gave  place  in  the 
Netherlands  to  Calvinistic  doctrine  and  discipline.  Church 
organization  as  it  developed  was  marked  by  two  peculi- 
arities. *'The  consistory  or  kirk  session  is  the  court  which 
rules  the  individual  congregation  in  Holland  as  in  all 
other  Presbyterian  lands;  but  in  the  Dutch  Church  all 
Church  members  are  regarded  as  one  congregation;  the 
ministers  are  the  pastors  of  the  city,  preaching  in  turn  in 
all  its  buildings  set  apart  for  public  worship."^  The 
whole  city  constitutes  one  consistory.  The  civil  consti- 
tution compelled  each  province  to  regulate  its  own  eccles- 
iastical affairs,  and  this  made  it  difficult  to  arrange  for  a 
National  Synod.  The  creedal  statement  known  as  the 
Belgic  Confession  was  approved  at  Dordrecht  in  1572, 
and  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  was  adopted  for  the  reli-' 
gious  instruction  of  the  young.  The  Reformed  Church 
in  Holland  that  in  the  Seventeenth  Century  nourished 
names  famous  in  Church  and  State,  gave  to  the  United 
States  a  stream  of  life  that  blending  with  the  Puritan 
emigration  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great  Republic:  a 
Republic  that  had  as  its  forerunner  the  Dutch  Republic, 
whose  leading  founder  was  William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
the  forerunner  of  Washington. 

^Lindsay.  History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  II,  p.  272. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Homk  Life  of  Luther,  Cai^vin,  Zwingu,  and 

Knox. 

Few  leaders  in  the  making  of  history  stand  more  fully 
in  the  limelight  of  contemporary  narrative  than  Martin 
Luther.  His  life,  not  only  in  its  public  labors,  but  in  the 
intimacy  of  the  home  and  his  daily  intercourse  with  his 
friends,  is  an  open  book.  Luther  was  many  sided  in  his 
genius  and  exceedingly  human.  The  blood  that  ran  with 
tempestuous  force  through  his  veins  nourished  a  tem- 
perament that  in  its  creative  power  made  him  the  peer- 
less pulpit  orator  and  the  fiery  pamphleteer.  His  ''Table 
Talk,"  preserved  by  admiring  friends,  discloses  a  racy 
command  of  language  that  enabled  him  to  clothe  his  sug- 
gestive everyday  conversation  with  a  wealth  of  helpful 
illustration.  He  loved  the  out  of  door  world.  The  bou- 
quet of  flowers  which  he  held  in  his  hand  when  in  dispu- 
tation with  Eck,  at  Leipsic,  was  not  an  affectation,  but  a 
simple  expression  of  his  enjoyment  of  the  fragrance  and 
beauty  of  the  flowers  that  always  made  him  a  garden 
lover  and  cultivator.  He  knew  the  birds  and  their  songs 
stirred  the  melody  that  dwelt  so  richly  in  his  nature. 
Music,  from  the  years  when  his  boyish  voice  gladdened 
the  Cotta  home  at  Erfurt,  was  an  abiding  joy  and  solace. 
The  flute  of  Luther  brought  rest  in  the  midst  of  nerve- 
racking  tasks.  If  sometimes  his  over-wrought  strength 
gave  way  to  outbursts  of  wrath  and  temper  we  may  be 
sure  that  after  the  storm  of  his  indignation  against  the 
vindicative  persecution  and  cruel  accusations  of  enemies 

262 


The:  Home:  Lifi^  of  Luthe:r.  263 

had  past,  the  flute  and  guitar  that  was  near  at  hand  would 
bring  peace  into  his  troubled  heart  by  strains  of  melody 
akin  to  those  welling  out  of  the  throat  of  some  songster 
of  the  field  as  the  sun  breaks  through  the  clouds  whose 
lightnings  and  thunder  are  spent.  The  great  reformer 
bore  testimony  in  praise  of  the  art  of  music,  saying: 
*'Music  is  the  best  cordial  to  a  person  in  sadness;  it 
soothes,  quickens  and  refreshes  the  heart." 

Luther  was  especially  happy  and  fortunate  in  his  home 
life.  His  marriage  in  middle  life  to  Katharina  von  Bora 
was  an  ideal  union  in  many  ways.  A  strong,  well-bal- 
anced character,  in  full  accord  with  the  work  and  mis- 
sion of  her  husband,  with  womanly  devotion  she  min- 
istered to  a  domestic  life  that  became  the  center  of  power 
and  influence  as  the  place  where  Luther  welcomed  the 
friends  and  guests  that  gathered  about  his  table  from 
day  to  day.  The  Augustinian  cloister,  where  Luther  had 
lived  from  the  time  he  came  to  Wittenberg,  was  given  to 
him  by  the  Elector  Friedrick  as  a  wedding  gift.  It  was 
a  roomy  building  and  at  one  time  accommodated  forty 
monks.  This  splendid  gift  was  deeded  to  Luther  and  his 
wife  jointly.  The  most  famous  of  its  many  rooms  was 
that  where  the  family  gathered  for  their  meals.  About 
this  table  Luther  delighted  to  welcome  his  friends.  It 
was  a  place  of  high  thinking  and  very  generous  living. 
His  enemies  laid  much  stress  upon  the  personal  habits 
and  generous  provision  of  this  ample  board.  That  it  was 
ample  we  cannot  doubt.  That  more  beer  was  drank  than 
was  necessary  we  have  reason  to  believe,  but  the  stories 
of  intemperance  circulated  by  those  who  hated  the  re- 
former were  lies  of  the  vilest  kind.  The  home  life  of 
Luther  was  a  type  of  the  best  domestic  life  of  his  times. 


264  The  Reformation. 

The  "Table  Talk,"  that  in  its  rich  suggestiveness  reveals 
his  super-abundant  genius  in  every  theme  his  thought 
illuminated,  discloses  also  the  crass  habits  of  the  Six- 
teenth Century.  Language  was  a  medium  used  in  a 
rough,  open  way  that  falls  harshly  at  times  upon  ears  ac- 
customed to  the  usages  of  society  in  the  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury. 

Besides  his  five  children  Luther  and  his  wife  cared  for 
eleven  of  his  orphaned  nephews  and  nieces.  "This  repri- 
mander  of  Popes  and  Kings,"  says  Koepchen,  "was  loved 
by  the  children,  and  the  great  champion  was  as  playful 
among  them  as  though  he  were  himself  again  a  child.  He 
could  fight  fiercely  all  day  for  his  cause  and  in  the  eve- 
ning take  his  lute,  gaze  at  the  stars,  sing  psalms  and 
muse  upon  the  clouds,  the  fields,  the  flowers,  the  birds, 
dissolved  in  melody  and  devotion." 

The  ban  of  the  Diet  of  Worms  made  Luther  legally  an 
outlaw.  When  absent  from  his  Wittenberg  home  his 
friends  were  in  constant  fear  that  harm  might  come  to 
him  through  the  machination  of  enemies  who  sought  to 
destroy  him.  At  the  time  of  the  famous  Diet  at  Augs- 
burg, Luther  was  a  guest  of  the  Elector  at  his  castle  in 
Coburg.  While  waiting  daily  for  tidings  from  Augsburg 
and  keeping  in  close  touch  with  Melanchthon,  and  other 
friends,  he  found  time  to  write  home  letters  that  bear  tes- 
timony to  his  affectionate  nature  and  the  tender  ties  that 
bound  him  to  his  family.  To  help  him  in  his  avowed 
homesickness,  at  this  time,  his  wife  engaged  Lucas 
Cranach  to  paint  a  portrait  of  their  baby  daughter  Mag-- 
dalena  and  sent  it  to  Coburg.  Luther  hung  the  picture 
where  he  could  see  it  as  he  sat  at  his  writing  table.  He 
tells  us  "that  the  sweet  little  face  looking  down  upon 


Homb:  Lifk  o^  John  Calvin.  265 

him  gave  him  courage  during  his  dreary  months  of  wait- 
ing." A  charming  letter  written  in  these  days  to  his 
youngest  son  is  still  preserved.  The  death  of  Magdalena 
in  her  thirteenth  year  was  a  heart-breaking  sorrow.  She 
fell  asleep  in  her  father's  arms.  "As  they  laid  her  in  the 
coffin  he  said,  'Darling  Lena,  it  is  well  with  you.  You 
will  rise  and  shine  like  a  star,  yea  like  the  sun.  *  '-^^  *  I 
am  happy  in  spirit  but  the  flesh  is  sorrowful  and  will  not 
be  content ;  the  parting  grieves  me  beyond  measure.  It  is 
strange  that  she  is  certainly  in  peace  and  happy  and  yet  I 
so  sorrowful.     "^  *  '^    I  have  sent  a  saint  to  heaven."^ 

The  herculean  labors  of  Luther  in  early  manhood  im- 
paired his  strong  constitution  and  brought  upon  him 
physical  disabilities  that  were  the  source  at  times  of  great 
depression  of  spirit  and  much  suffering.  He  has  left  tes- 
timony as  to  the  loving  care  and  devotion  that  in  his  home 
ministered  to  his  every  want.  The  world  owes  much  to 
the  noble  wife  and  mother  whose  thrift  and  management 
made  possible  the  home  life  and  hospitality  of  the  great 
reformer. 


The  married  life  of  John  Calvin  discloses  a  tempera- 
ment utterly  unlike  that  of  Luther.  Outwardly  undemon- 
strative the  great  Genevan  reformer  and  theologian  was 
by  no  means  lacking  in  warmth  of  feeling.  Cool  and 
logical  in  all  the  processes  of  his  nature  there  were  hidden 
resources  of  aft'ection  that  bound  him  in  close  ties  to 
the  friends  who  shared  his  intimacy.  No  man  could  have 
been  blessed  with  such  loyalty  of  love,  as  well  as  admira- 
tion, on  the  part  of  a  host  of  friends,  if  his  blood  had 

^Conversations  zvith  Luther,  p.  47. 


266  The  Re:^ormation. 

run  cold  and  selfish.  Calvin  was  essentially  a  scholar. 
His  study  was  a  place  of  unremitting  toil  and  he  be- 
grudged any  pleasures  that  kept  him  from  the  tasks  that 
were  to  him  the  source  of  his  highest  joy. 

Like  Luther,  Calvin  had  come  to  middle  life  when  he 
decided  to  seek  a  helpmeet  to  share  his  home.  Evidently 
the  great  leader  of  affairs  in  Geneva  was  well  aware  that 
there  were  those  ready  to  take  this  place.  In  a  character- 
istic way  he  took  up  the  matter  in  a  business-like  fashion. 

In  a  letter  to  his  friend  Farel,  under  date  of  May,  1539, 
he  writes :  *'I  am  not  of  that  insane  class  of  lovers  who, 
once  captivated  by  beauty,  kiss  even  its  faults.  The  only 
comliness  that  attracts  me  is  this :  that  she  be  modest, 
complaisant,  unostentatious,  thrifty,  patient,  and  likely  to 
be  careful  of  my  health." 

In  the  following  year  (1540)  negotiations  were  opened 
with  the  friends  of  a  nobly  born  young  woman  of  con- 
siderable wealth.  These  endowments  did  not  appeal  to 
Calvin  and  nothing  came  of  the  matter.  His  brother 
Antoine  was  the  go-between  in  considering  another  lady 
"who,  if  she  answers  to  her  reputation,  would  bring 
dowry  enough  without  any  money."  Final  inquiries  in 
this  case  were  unsatisfactory.  The  wife  whom  he  chose 
and  to  whom  he  was  probably  married  in  the  summer  of 
1540,  "with  the  aid  and  advice  of  Bucer,"  was  "a  grave 
and  honorable  woman,"  Idelette  de  Bure,  widow  of  Jean 
Stordeur  of  Liege,  whom  Calvin  had  converted  from 
Anabaptist  views. 

This  marriage  gave  Calvin  a  home  life  for  a  few  years 
that  was  the  source  of  much  joy  and  blessing  even  under 
the  shadow  of  the  prolonged  illness  of  his  estimable  wife. 
His  only  child,  Jaques,  born  July  28,  1542,  lived  but  a 


HoMi5  Life  of  Zwingi,i.  267 

few  days,  and  the  wife  and  mother  never  regained  her 
health.  After  her  death  (March  29,  1549,)  Calvin  wrote 
these  lines  to  his  friend  Viret :  "I  have  been  bereaved  of 
the  best  companion  of  my  life,  who,  if  our  lot  had  been 
harsher  would  have  been  not  only  the  willing  sharer  of 
exile  and  poverty,  but  even  of  death.  While  she  lived, 
she  was  a  faithful  helper  of  my  ministry.  From  her  I 
never  experienced  the  slightest  hindrance." 

Calvin  in  his  habits  led  a  sedentary  and  semi-invalid 
life.  In  spite,  however,  of  physical  hindrances  he  was 
an  unceasing  and  tireless  worker.  His  active  brain  toiled 
on  when  the  body  was  suffering  from  severe  pain.  A 
single  meal  was  his  only  daily  repast  and  his  exercise  was 
confined  to  short  walks  and  sometimes  a  game  of  quoits 
in  his  garden,  or  *'clef"  on  the  table  in  his  living  rooms. 

In  the  days  of  extreme  weakness  that  preceded  his  last 
illness  he  clung  with  increasing  eft"ection  to  his  friends. 
Beza  "was  to  him  as  a  son  in  his  last  days,"  and  Fare! 
came  from  Basel  to  cheer  the  great  reformer  whom  he 
had  providentially  aided  in  bringing  him  to  his  life-work 
in  Geneva. 


Zwingli  was  married  to  Anna  Reinhard,  widow  of 
Hans  Meyer  von  Knonau,  in  1524.  This  happy  union 
was  attended  in  its  beginning  with  both  romance  and 
some  difficulties.  When  Zwingli  came  to  Zurich  in  15 19 
he  first  met  the  beautiful  widow  who  five  years  later  be- 
came his  wife.  Her  son,  a  promising  lad,  was  a  member 
of  his  Church  school.  There  is  a  tradition  that  the  visits 
of  the  popular  young  preacher  to  the  home  of  his  fair 
parishioner  were  so  frequent  that  it  became  a  matter  of 
pleasant  town  gossip.     The  marriage  was  somewhat  de- 


268  The  Rei^ormation. 

layed  by  troubles  in  connection  with  the  adjustment  of 
the  inheritance  of  her  children.  Both  to  them  and  the 
mother  the  union  with  the  great  Swiss  preacher  and  re- 
former was  one  of  unalloyed  happiness. 


John  Knox  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was 
Marjory  Bowes.  During  the  years  spent  in  Geneva  two 
sons  were  born  (i 557-1 558).  Two  years  later,  in  1560, 
the  happy  home  was  suddenly  shadowed  by  the  death  of 
the  devoted  wife  and  mother  whose  beautiful  Christian 
character  was  delineated  by  Calvin  in  an  eloquent  tribute 
to  her  memory.  Eight  days  after  the  death  of  their 
father  the  two  sons  matriculated  at  the  University  of 
Cambridge. 

In  1564  Knox  married  Margaret,  daughter  of  Andrew, 
Lord  Stewart  of  Ochiltru,  a  distant  connection  of  the 
royal  house.  There  was  a  great  disparity  in  their  age. 
Knox  was  fifty-nine;  his  bride  sixteen.  The  marriage 
proved  a  happy  one  and  three  daughters  were  born  in  the 
home  that  gave  its  sheltering  ministry  of  love  in  the  years 
that  closed  the  stormy  public  life  of  the  great  Scotch 
leader  and  reformer. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Historical  Relation  oi^  the:  Protestant  Churches  oi^ 
THE  United  States  to  the  Reformation. 

Protestantism  laid  the  foundations  of  the  American  Re- 
piibHc.  This  statement  is  substantiated  by  the  facts  of 
history,  Columbus  never  set  foot  on  the  soil  now  cov- 
ered by  the  United  States.  It  was  John  Cabot,  captain  of 
an  English  vessel,  who  first  explored  our  Atlantic  sea- 
board. With  the  exception  of  Maryland,  men  of  Prot- 
estant affiliation  were  the  founders  of  the  thirteen  colo- 
nies that  formed  the  Union  that  within  a  century  and  a 
half  has  expanded  into  a  nation  the  wealthiest  in  the 
world  and  having  a  population  of  over  one  hundred  mil- 
lions. The  part  played  by  the  Reformation  in  this  history 
is  one  in  which  all  of  the  denominational  Bodies  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America,  have  a  share. ^ 

The  story  of  the  Reformation,  as  it  is  woven  into  the 
history  of  the  United  States,  is  one  of  romantic  interest. 
It  was  in  the  New  World  that  the  work  begun  by  Luther, 
Calvin,  Zwingli,  Knox,  and  other  great  Protestant  leaders, 
was  to  come  to  its  largest  fulfillment  as  a  seed  sowing  of 
democratic  principles  and  the  founder  of  republican  insti- 
tutions. As  early  as  1562  a  company  of  Huguenots  at- 
tem^pted  to  plant  a  colony  at  what  is  now  Port  Royal,  in 
South  Carolina.     It  was  the  beginning  of  an  emigration 

^Sanford's  Origin  and  History  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America,  pp.  317-389. 

269 


270  The  Rei^ormation. 

that  the  Protestant  French  leader,  Admiral  Coligny, 
hoped  might  establish  a  great  commonwealth.  Philip  II. 
followed  this  heroic  band  with  the  hate  that  kept  alive 
the  fires  of  the  Inquisition  in  Europe  and  the  massacre  of 
the  colonists  at  St.  Augustine  (1565)  closed  the  opening 
chapter  of  Protestant  emigration  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 
In  the  years  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  a  remark- 
able group  of  men  became  sea  rovers  and  helpers  in  the 
founding  of  English  colonies  in  America.  The  names  of 
Drake,  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
head  a  list  of  navigators  who  assisted  in  many  ways  to 
make  England  the  dominant  power  in  the  founding  of 
the  colonies. 

'*It  cannot  be  denied,"  says  Daniel  Webster,  "that  with 
America  and  in  America  a  new  era  commences  in  human 
affairs."  In  that  era  Protestant  Christianity  was  to  act 
the  leading  part.  The  English  settlement  at  Jamestown 
in  1607  antedates  by  seven  years  (1614)  the  unfurling 
of  the  flag  of  the  Dutch  Republic  at  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  Manhattan  Island.  New  Netherlands  was  the 
name  first  given  to  the  spot  upon  which  the  commercial 
metropolis  of  the  New  World  has  been  built.  There  is  a 
bell  in  the  city  of  New  York  that  may  well  be  placed  in  a 
historic  niche  by  the  side  of  the  liberty  bell  in  Independ- 
ence Hall  in  Philadelphia.  It  hangs  in  the  steeple  of  the 
Reformed  (Dutch)  church  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Twenty-ninth  Street.  Cast  in  Holland  in  Reforma- 
tion days  it  still  calls  the  hour  of  Sabbath  worship. 

During  the  half  century  that  the  Dutch  held  possession 
of  Manhattan  Island  and  the  Hudson  River  Valley,  the 
Reformed  Church  laid  deep  the  foundations  of  its  Prot- 
estant faith  and  doctrine.    New  Amsterdam,  before  it  be- 


The  Puritan  Emigration.  271 

came  New  York,  won  a  heritage  of  history  and  ancestry 
that  is  still  one  of  the  proudest  possessions  of  the  city, 
and  the  story  of  the  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic  and  the 
Reformed  Church  of  the  Netherlands  is  vitally  related  to 
the  history  of  the  United  States. 

The  landing  of  the  Pilgrims  at  Plymouth,  on  the  New 
England  coast  in  1620,  brought  to  our  shores  the  little 
company  of  Seperatists  who,  leaving  their  humble  English 
homes,  first  found  refuge  in  Holland  before  they  crossed 
the  stormy  Atlantic.  Ten  years  later  began  the  great 
Puritan  emigration  that  gave  to  the  New  World  the 
"sifted  wheat"  of  the  Protestant  life  of  England.  The 
foremost  place  filled  by  the  leaders  of  this  emigration,  as 
well  as  the  rank  and  file,  in  the  history  of  Church  and 
State  in  the  United  States  is  unquestioned. 

American  Congregationalism  and  the  great  Baptist  fel- 
lowship came  to  their  birth  through  this  Puritan  life. 
Roger  Williams,  a  graduate  of  Oxford  University,  was 
an  ordained  minister  of  the  Church  of  England  at  the 
time  he  landed  in  Boston  and  settled  at  Salem  (1631). 
Embracing  Baptist  views,  and  rejecting  all  union  between 
Church  and  State  he  became  the  founder  of  Rhode  Island 
and  the  leader  in  promulgating  Baptist  principles  and 
founding  churches  now  numbering  several  millions  of 
communicants.  As  the  advocate  in  early  colonial  days,  in 
the  face  often  of  bitter  persecution,  of  the  distinctive 
American  Protestant  principle  of  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  Baptists  have  reason  to  rejoice  in  the 
contribution  that  is  their  due  credit  in  the  victories  of 
democracy  for  which  their  forerunners  in  stormy  Refor- 
mation days  so  valiantly  continued.  Men  of  the  stamp 
and  character  of  Blaurock,  Grebel,  Hubmaier,  and  Denck 


2,'j2  The  Reformation. 

are  now  recognized  by  historians  as  the  true  and  able 
leaders  of  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Sixteenth  Century  and 
not  revolutionary  fanatics  of  the  type  of  John  of  Leyden 
or  the  "prophets  of  Zwickau." 

All  of  the  New  England  colonies  were  founded  by  Puri- 
tan leaders.  The  elder  Winthrop,  Mather,  Bradford  and 
a  long  line  of  able  ministers  and  laymen  guided  the  affairs 
of  Massachusetts  and  the  adjacent  colonies  of  Maine, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont.  Roger  Williams  founded 
Rhode  Island  and  its  chief  city  of  Providence.  In  Con- 
necticut, John  Davenport,  like  Calvin  at  Geneva,  hoped  at 
New  Haven  to  found  a  theocracy,  but  his  large  visioned 
neighbor,  Thomas  Hooker  of  Hartford,  caught  the  true 
spirit  of  democracy  and  voiced  for  the  first  time  on 
American  soil  the  principles  that  a  century  and  a  half 
later  were  wrought  into  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  Referring  to  the  famous  sermon  preached  by 
Hooker  at  Hartford  in  May  31,  1638,  Professor  Alex- 
ander Johnston^  says:  ''Here  is  the  first  practical  asser- 
tion of  the  right  of  the  people  not  only  to  choose  but  to 
limit  the  powers  of  their  rulers,  an  assertion  that  lies  at 
the  foundations  of  the  American  system.  There  is  no 
reference  to  a  'dread  sovereign,'  no  reservation  of  def- 
erence due  to  any  class,  not  even  to  the  class  to  which 
the  speaker  himself  belonged.  Each  individual  was  to 
exercise  his  rights  'according  to  the  blessed  will  and  law 
of  God,'  but  he  was  to  be  responsible  to  God  alone  for 
his  fulfillment  of  the  obligation.  The  whole  contains  the 
germ  of  the  idea  of  the  commonwealth,  and  it  was  de- 

iQne  of  the  ablest  of  our  American  historians.  His  "writings 
represent  original  research  and  rare  talent  for  terse  narrative  and 
keen  analysis."    Encyclopedia  Brittanica. 


The:  Presbyterian  Church.  273 

veloped  by  his  hearers  into  the  constitution  of  1639.  It  is 
on  the  banks  of  the  Connecticut  under  the  mighty  preach- 
ing of  Thomas  Hooker  and  in  the  constitution  to  which 
he  gave  hfe,  if  not  form,  that  we  draw  the  first  breath 
of  that  atmosphere  which  is  now  so  familiar  to  us.  The 
birthplace  of  American  democracy  is  Hartford,  Connecti- 
cut." ''They  who  judge  of  men  by  their  services  to  the 
human  race,"  says  Bancroft,  "will  never  cease  to  honor 
the  memory  of  Hooker."^ 

The  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  shares 
with  Congregationalists  in  this  Puritan  heritage.  "Amer- 
ican Presbyterianism  as  a  whole,"  says  Dr.  William  H. 
Roberts,  "is  as  diverse  in  its  origin  as  are  the  peoples  who 
have  blended  to  form  the  American  nation.  The  earliest 
American  Presbyterian  Churches  were  established  in  New 
England,  Maryland,  Delaware,  and  Virginia,  from  about 
1630  to  1680,  and  were  in  large  part  of  English  origin, 
their  pastors  as  a  rule  being  Church  of  England  ministers 
holding  Presbyterian  views." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  "the  earliest  Presbyterian 
emigration  in  the  colonial  period  consisted  of  the  French 
Huguenots,"  who  attempted  to  form  settlements  in  South 
Carolina  and  Florida  in  1562-1565.  Huguenot  churches 
were  formed  on  Staten  Island,  New  York,  in  1665 ;    in 

^Thomas  Hooker  was  born  at  Marfield,  England,  July  7,  1586. 
A  graduate  of  Cambridge  University  he  became  a  minister  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Silenced  in  1630  for  nonconformity  he  spent 
three  years  in  Holland.  In  1633  he  sailed  with  a  company  of 
Puritan  friends  and  old  parishioners  for  Boston.  He  did  not 
sympathize  with  the  autocratic  views  of  Mather  and  with  his 
Cambridge  congregation  in  1635  settled  in  Hartford,  where  he 
died,  July  7,  1647. 

18 


274  'Thk  Reformation. 

New  York  City  in  1683;  at  Boston  in  1687;  at  New 
Rochelle,  New  York,  in  1688,  and  in  other  places.  The 
Charleston  church,  founded  in  1686,  is  the  only  independ- 
ent Huguenot  church  in  the  United  States  existing  at  the 
present  time.  This  Huguenot  emigration,  while  not  large, 
had  a  distinctive  influence  in  colonial  days  that  is  a  right- 
ful heritage  of  American  Presbyterianism.  It  is  to  be 
remembered  that  John  Calvin  in  early  manhood  not  only 
**took  a  foremost  place  among  the  leaders  of  the  whole 
Reformation  movement  but  molded  in  his  plastic  hands 
the  Reformation  in  France.  *  *  *  He  had  an  extraor- 
dinary power  over  his  co-religionists  in  his  native  land. 
He  was  a  Frenchman — one  of  themselves ;  no  foreigner 
speaking  an  unfamiliar  tongue ;  no  enemy  of  the  Father- 
land to  follow  whom  might  seem  to  be  unpatriotic.  It  is 
true  that  his  fixed  abode  lay  beyond  the  confines  of 
France ;  but  distance,  which  gave  him  freedom  of  action, 
made  him  the  more  esteemed.  He  was  the  apostle  who 
wrote  *to  all  that  be  in  France,  beloved  of  God,  called  to 
be  saints.'  "^ 

The  Alliance  of  Reformed  Churches  holding  the  Pres- 
byterian System,  includes  in  its  world-wide  membership 
all  of  the  Reformed  and  Presbyterian  Churches  in  the 
fellowship  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America.  In  their  historic  life  they  represent 
the  streams  of  influence  that  had  their  fountain  head  in 
the  Reformation  movement  in  Geneva,  Switzerland, 
France,  the  Netherlands,  Bohemia,  England,  Scotland, 
Wales,  and  North  Ireland.  Calvinistic  and  Puritan  lead- 
ership planted  not  only  the  Cross  of  Christ  in  American 

^Lindsay.    History  of  the  Reformation,  Vol.  IT,  pp.  153,  154. 


The  Moravian  Church.  275 

soil  but  in  "the  doctrine  of  the  unconditioned  sovereignty 
of  God,"  and  "the  sovereignty  of  the  Word  of  God  as  the 
supreme  and  infalHble  rule  of  faith  and  practice,"  they 
found  the  principles  of  democracy  that  gave  them  a  fore- 
most place,  v^ith  those  of  like  Puritan  faith  and  doctrine, 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  the  United  States  and  secur- 
ing to  the  people  both  civil  and  religious  liberty. 

The  story  of  the  Reformation  in  Bohemia  and  the  rise 
of  the  Moravian  fellowship  has  already  been  briefly 
noted. ^  When  Luther  nailed  his  theses  on  the  door  of  the 
Crown  church  in  Wittenberg  "the  Unitas  Fratrum  em- 
braced about  four  hundred  parishes  and  two  hundred 
thousand  members."  Within  a  limited  area  this  earliest 
Protestant  Church  has  been  a  potent  influence  in  the 
United  States  but  its  largest  contribution  has  been  as  a 
leavening  inspiration  in  lifting  up  the  commission  of  the 
Risen  Lord  and  Saviour.  "Go  ye  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations." 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  did  not  come  to  its 
organization  until  after  the  War  of  the  Revolution.  In 
colonial  days  it  was  represented  by  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. When  the  war  broke  out  there  were  about  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  clergymen  in  the  colonies  who  ministered 
to  congregations  that  comprised  a  large  number  of  the 
wealthy  and  influential  famihes  in  Virginia  and  other 
middle  and  southern  colonies.  A  large  number  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  were  members 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  George  Washington  at- 
tended its  services.  Naturally  the  sympathy  of  many  of 
the  clergy  and  the  members  of  the  Church  of  England 

^See  pages  30-32. 


276  The^  Reformation. 

were  with  the  royalists  and  in  the  success  of  the  American 
contention  for  independence  from  English  control,  the 
close  of  the  war  found  this  branch  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  a  broken  and  distressed  condition.  As  an 
American  Church  it  has  come  to  its  present  strength  and 
influence.  In  its  divided  counsels  there  has  always  been, 
as  in  no  other  American  Communion,  a  contention  in 
which  the  forces  representing  democracy  and  autocracy 
have  striven  for  leadership.  This  conflict  still  continues. 
If  true  to  its  Reformation  heritage  there  can  be  but  one 
conclusion  in  this  strife  of  parties.  Having  achieved 
unity  within  its  own  ecclesiastical  life  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  will  be  in  a  position  to  unite  with  sister 
Churches  of  the  Reformed  faith  in  achieving  the  unity 
for  which  our  Divine  Lord  and  Redeemer  prayed. 

The  Lutheran  Church  now  numbering,  in  its  twenty 
ecclesiastical  groups,  a  membership  in  the  United  States 
of  two  and  a  half  millions,  dates  its  marvelous  growth 
from  the  great  emigration  that  set  in  from  Europe  early  in 
the  Nineteenth  Century.  A  little  company  of  Lutherans 
joined  the  Dutch  colony  on  Manhattan  Island  in  1632. 
They  were  treated  shamefully.  If  apologies  would  mend 
the  historic  record  every  inheritor  of  the  Reformed  faith 
would  hasten  to  give  them.  In  1638  a  company  of 
Swedes  settled  where  the  city  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  now 
stands.  They  were  the  vanguard  of  that  great  Scandi- 
navian emigration  that  has  populated  especially  the  states 
of  the  Interior  and  the  Northwest. 

The  German  branch  of  the  Lutheran  Church  dates  its 
American  history  from  the  coming  of  emigrants  from  the 
Palatinates  to  Pennsylvania  in  1680.  Prior  to  1750  over 
60,000  Germans  settled  in  this  state.     It  was  not,  how- 


Lutheran  Churches.  T.yy 

ever,  until  1742  that  the  Lutherans  were  fully  organized 
in  synodical  relations.  The  oldest  of  the  general  bodies 
of  the  Lutheran  Church,  the  General  Synod,  founded  in 
1826,  has  always  maintained  friendly  relations  with  other 
religious  bodies.  Under  the  leadership  of  Professor 
Samuel  S.  Schmucker,  of  the  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  Theological 
Seminary,  overtures  were  sent  out  to  other  ministers  and 
Churches  in  1838  that  outlined  in  spirit  and  purpose  the 
plan  of  federation  that  is  now  incorporated  in  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  America.^ 

At  present  the  General  Synod  is  the  only  Lutheran 
body  in  the  United  States  that  affiliates  with  other  evan- 
gelical Churches.  "The  non-English  Lutheran  bodies, 
whose  members  do  not  come  into  close  personal  contact 
with  the  people  in  purely  English  Churches,  naturally  are 
unconscious  of  any  pressing  need  of  unity  with  non- 
Lutheran  bodies.  They  have  little  in  common  with  them 
in  language,  usages,  and  traditions.  Their  respective 
tasks  seem  to  be  diverse  also.  The  Lutherans  have  a  great 
work  in  caring  for  their  own  kindred  who  come  here  from 
other  lands. "^ 

As  the  great  host  of  Lutherans,  that  in  the  last  half 
century  have  settled  in  the  Middle  and  Northwestern 
states,  become  assimilated  into  the  national  life  of  the 
United  States  we  anticipate  that  this  strong,  conservative 
body  of  Protestant  churches  will  desire  closer  fellowship 

^Sanford's  Origin  and  History  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches,  pp.  89-92. 

2Rev.  J.  A.  Singmaster,  D.D.,  President  of  the  Evangelical  Lu- 
theran Theological  Seminary,  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  in  Churches  of  the 
Federal  Council,  p.  223. 


278  The  Reformation. 

with  their  brethren  who  hold  the  Reformation  faith  and, 
alike  with  themselves,  honor  the  names  of  Luther,  Me- 
lanchthon,  and  the  great  leaders  of  the  Evangelical 
Churches  of  Germany. 

''The  German  Evangelical  Synod  of  North  America 
stands  in  the  United  States  for  the  fundamental  positive 
and  progressive  principles  of  German  Evangelical  Chris- 
tianity established  in  1817  by  the  union  of  the  Reformed 
and  the  Lutheran  elements  in  Prussia.  In  the  next  quar- 
ter of  a  century  some  of  the  ministers  and  members  of 
that  body  came  to  the  United  States  and  in  1840  at  a  set- 
tlement near  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  the  first  organization  was 
formed.  It  was  then  known  as  the  German  Evangelical 
Church  Association  of  the  West.  This  body  expanded, 
and  changed  to  'Synod  of  the  West'  in  1866.  In  1877  the 
body  now  known  as  'the  Evangelical  Synod  of  North 
America'  came  into  being.  It  works  particularly  among 
the  German  people,  although  English  as  well  as  German  is 
used  in  many  churches  and  especially  in  Church  litera- 
ture."^ 

This  body  of  earnest  Christian  men  and  women,  while 
numerically  one  of  the  smallest  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches,  holds  an  unique  posi- 
tion, both  in  its  Reformation  heritage  and  its  lifting  up, 
"next  to  the  proclamation  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  Him  crucified,  the  ideal  of  Christian  unity  as  the 
chief  aim  of  its  organization  and  activity."  This  Brother- 
hood of  believers  stands  for  that  longing  for  unity  be- 
tween the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches  that  dates 

iRev.  J.  J.  Hortsman,  D.D.  In  Churches  of  the  Federal  Coun- 
cil, p.  226. 


Methodist  Episcopal  Churchi^s.  279 

back  to  the  conference  held  at  Marburg  in  1529.  In  the 
Providence  of  God  they  have  a  special  mission  that  in  its 
fulfillment  will  witness  the  passing  of  differences  that 
have  long  divided  the  ranks  of  Protestantism. 

The  United  Brethren  in  Christ,  with  a  membership  of 
nearly  four  hundred  thousand,  is  a  fellowship  of  German 
origin.  Reformed  and  Mennonite  and  Lutheran  influ- 
ences blended  in  its  organization  in  the  United  States  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  Eighteenth  Century.  The  United 
Brethren  Church,  true  to  its  evangelical  heritage,  has  wel- 
comed every  opportunity  to  join  in  fellowship  with  the 
followers  of  Christ  of  every  name. 

The  "Evangelical  Association"  and  the  ''United  Evan- 
gelical Church"  are  of  German  origin  and  share  in  the 
Reformation  history  and  heritage.  Both  organizations 
welcomed  the  invitation  to  unite  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches,  and  have  given  it  their 
loyal  support. 

The  Disciples  fellowship,  that  has  grown  into  one  of 
the  largest  Christian  forces  in  the  United  States,  was 
founded  in  the  interest  of  Christian  unity  by  men  con- 
nected with  Churches  of  the  Reformed  faith. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches,  that  stand  nurner- 
ically,  at  the  head  of  the  evangelical  Churches  of  the 
United  States,  also  share  in  this  heritage.  Their  origin 
and  history  is  linked  with  the  great  Wesleyan  revival 
movement  that  stirred  the  life  of  England  in  the  latter 
half  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  and  placed  the  name  of 
John  Wesley  among  the  leaders  of  Christian  history. 

It  was  a  dark  hour  in  the  spiritual  life  of  Britain  when 
the  young  Oxford  graduate  and  clergyman  of  the  Church 
of  England  began  his  work  of  reformation.     It  is  true. 


28o  The:  Rei^ormation. 

as  John  Richard  Green,  says,  "That  in  the  middle  class 
the  old  Puritan  spirit  lived  on  unchanged,  and  it  was 
from  this  class  that  a  religious  revival  burst  forth  which 
changed  after  a  time  the  whole  tone  of  English  society. 
The  Church  was  restored  to  life  and  activity.  Religion 
carried  to  the  hearts  of  the  people  a  fresh  spirit  of  moral 
zeal  while  it  purified  literature  and  manners.  *  *  * 
John  Wesley  embodied  in  himself  not  this  or  that  side  of 
the  new  movement,  but  the  movement  itself." 

The  story  of  Wesley's  conversion  reads  like  a  chapter 
taken  out  of  the  Reformation  days.  He  tells  us  that  it 
was  the  calm  confidence  of  the  Moravian  passengers,  in 
the  storms  that  tossed  the  vessel  that  conveyed  him  across 
the  Atlantic  on  his  way  to  engage  in  missionary  labors  in 
Georgia,  that  convinced  him  that  he  did  not  possess  the 
faith  that  casts  out  fear.  From  this  time  on  he  came 
under  Moravian  influence  and  guidance.  Peter  Bohler, 
the  devout  Moravian  minister,  in  a  very  real  sense,  be- 
came his  spiritual  father.  It  was  in  a  meeting  where  Lu- 
ther's Preface  to  the  Bpistle  to  the  Romans  was  being 
read,  that  Wesley  tells  us  ''About  a  quarter  before  nine, 
while  he  was  describing  the  change  which  God  works  in 
the  heart  through  faith  in  Christ,  I  felt  my  heart  strangely 
warmed.  I  felt  I  did  trust  in  Christ,  Christ  alone  for 
salvation ;  and  an  assurance  was  given  that  He  had  taken 
away  my  sins,  even  mine,  and  saved  me  from  the  law  of 
sin  and  death."  Lecky,  in  his  "History  of  England  in 
the  Eighteenth  Century,"  referring  to  this  incident,  says : 
"It  is  scarcely  an  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  scene  which 
took  place  at  that  humble  meeting  in  Aldersgate  Street 
forms  an  epoch  in  English  history.  The  conviction  which 
then  flashed  upon  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  most  ac- 


Protkstant  Churches  of  AmivRica.  281 

tive  intellects  in  England  is  the  true  source  of  English 
Methodism/'  and  we  can  add  of  American  Methodism. 

Little  did  Martin  Luther  realize  that  the  words  penned 
out  of  his  own  soul  experience  would  prove  to  be  the 
Light  of  the  Spirit  that  two  centuries  later  would 
illumine  the  life  of  the  founder  of  world-wide  Methodism 
that  in  the  year  that  celebrates  the  four  hundredth  anni- 
versary of  the  Reformation  numbers  churches  having  al- 
most ten  miUion  communicants  and  ministering  to  a  popu- 
lation estimated  at  over  thirty-eight  millions.  In  this  her- 
itage not  only  does  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Churches 
share  but  also  the  Methodist  Protestant  Church,  the 
"Christian"  Church,  and  the  African  M.  E.  Churches. 

With  gratitude  to  Almighty  God  millions  of  Christian 
communicants,  connected  with  Protestant  evangelical 
Churches,  recall  the  names  of  their  heroic  founders;  but 
there  is  a  Name  above  every  Name,  in  whose  presence 
all  earthly  leaders  bow  with  penitent,  obedient,  trusting 
hearts.  Above  the  tumult  of  strifes  that  so  often,  in  cen- 
turies past,  have  divided  the  Church,  of  which  Christ  is 
the  Head,  may  we  not  hope  and  believe  that  this  Twen- 
tieth Century  of  the  Christian  era  shall  rejoice  in  the  an- 
swer to  our  Saviour's  prayer  as  He  entered  the  path  that 
led  through  Gethsemane  to  the  Cross — and  then  to  the 
morning  of  the  Resurrection  and  the  Day  of  Pentecost — 
''that  they  may  all  be  one ;  even  as  thou  Father,  art  in  me, 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us ;  that  the  world 
may  believe  that  thou  didst  send  me." 


INDEX. 


Act  of  Supremacy,  171. 

Acts  of  Uniformity,  197,  198. 

Adrian  V.,  125. 

Albigenses,  91,  228,  238. 

Alva,  Duke  of,  225. 

Anabaptists,  228,  260,  272. 

Antwerp,  City  of,  246,  258,  260. 

Articles,  Six,  172,  180;  Thirty- 
nine  of  Church  of  England, 
199. 

Augsburg  Confession,   143, 

Augsburg,  Diet  of  (1526),  134; 
(1530),  142;    (1555), 

Augsburg  Interim,  155. 

Augustine,  St.,  64. 

Augustinians,  88. 

Avigon,  Popes  at,  20. 

Bacon,  Roger,  16, 

Baptists  in  America,  271. 

Barbarian  Invasion,  The,  85. 

Bartholomew,  Massacre  of  St., 
244. 

Bayer,  Christian,  143. 

Beaton,  David,  202. 

Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  91,  193. 

Beza,  Theodore,  242. 

Bishop's  Book,  176. 

Boehler,  Peter,  32,  280. 

Bohmer,  Heinrich,  154. 

Bohemia,  25, 

Brandenburg,  George  of,  143. 

Britain,  Conversion  of,  14,  191. 

Calvin,  John — early  life,  221 ; 
writes  the  Institutes  of  the 
Christian  Religion,  223,  219, 
220;  his  conversion,  222; 
casts  in  his  lot  with  reform- 
ing party,  223  ;  at  Basel,  223 ; 
publication  of  Institutes,  224; 
in  Geneva,  224;  takes  part  in 
discussion  at  Lausanne,  225 ; 
leadership  at  Geneva,  226; 
opposition  arises,  228;  exiled 
from  Geneva,  231 ;  recognized 


as  a  great  theologian  and 
leader  by  the  German  and 
French  reformers,  232;  re- 
called to  Geneva,  233;  trial 
and  death  of  Servetus,  234; 
last  days,  235 ;  tribute  of 
Renan,  235;  the  theologian 
of  the  Reformed  Churches, 
236;  influence  in  France,  240, 
241,  274;  influence  in  Nether- 
lands, 247;    home  life,  265. 

Campeggio,  Cardinal,  125,  142. 

Carlstadt,  119,  121-124. 

Cecil  (Baron  Burleigh),  195, 
196. 

Chaucer,  22. 

Charles  V.,  98,  iii,  114,  135, 
142,  146,  167,  183,  247,  250. 

Charles  II.  of  France,  241. 

Chelcic,  Peter  of,  30. 

Christianity  in  Middle  Ages,  7. 

Church,  Monarchical  Concep- 
tion of,  14. 

Clement  VII.,  125. 

Coligny,  Admiral,  242,  244,  270. 

Colet,  John,  42,  43,  44,  52. 

Commerce  and  Manufactures, 
36. 

Common  Prayer,  Changes  in 
Book  of,  184. 

"Compromise,"  Netherland, 

Communion  of  Brethren.  See 
Moravian  Church. 

Conde,  242. 

Congregationalists  in  America, 
271. 

Constance,  Council  of,  27. 

Constantinople,  New  Learning 
carried  from,  87. 

Cordier,  Mathurin,  221. 

Coverdale,  Miles,  173. 

Cranmer,  Archbishop,  180,  i8r, 
182,  189,  190. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  171,  177. 


283 


284 


Index. 


Crusades,  The,  Z7,  87- 

Dante,  Description  of  Popes  by, 

go. 
Davenport,  John,  272. 
D'Aubigne,  72,  74. 
Denmark,  Reformation  in,  156. 
Disciples,  The,  279. 
DolHnger,  Tribute  to  Luther  by, 

152. 
Dominicans,  12,  88. 
Dominic,  St.,  11. 
Drake,  Sir  Francis,  270. 
Edward  VI.,  182,  183,  185. 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  182,  194-200. 
England,  Reformation  in,   163- 

200. 
Egmont,  Count,  251,  255. 
Episcopal    Church,    Protestant, 

275,  276. 
Erasmus,  Desiderius,  42-48,  167, 

172,  169,  210. 
Esch,  John,  247. 
Evangelical  Association,  279. 
Farnese,  Alexander,  258. 
Farel,   William,    218,   221,   224- 

226,  230,  236. 
Feudal  System,  35,  38. 
Fisher,  Bishop,  173. 
Fisher,  George  P.,  244,  246. 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 

of  Christ  in  America,  269,  274. 
Florence,  Centre  of  New  Learn- 
ing, 41. 
France,    Reformation    in,    238- 

245-. 
Francis,  St.,  11. 
Franciscans,  13. 
Francis  L,  117,  223,  239. 
Frederick    the    Wise,    Elector, 

74,   75,  92,  98,    115,   118,   122, 

137. 
French  Martyrs,  240,  241. 
French  Protestantism,  245. 
Friars.     See  Mendicant  Friars. 
Fritz,  Joss,  129. 
Froude,  Anthony,  18,  49,  84,  178, 

183. 
Gaunt,  John  of,  21. 


Geneva,    Reformation   in,    217- 

237. 
Germain,  Treaty  of  St.,  243. 
German   Evangelical  Synod  of 

North  America,  278. 
Gilbert,  Sir  Humphrey,  270. 
Good,  James  L,  215. 
Grapheus,  Cornelius,  247. 
Green,  John  Henry,  19,  68. 
Gregory  the  Great,  14. 
Grosseteste,  Robert,  16. 
Hamilton,  Patrick,  202. 
Henry  VHL,  118,  164,  172,  175, 

182. 
Hesse,  Philip  of.    See  Philip  of 

Hesse. 
Hooker,  Thomas,  272. 
Horstman,  J.  J.,  158,  278. 
Huguenots,  The,  242,  244,  252, 

269,  273. 
Huss,  John,  28-30,  162. 
Hutten,  Ulrich  von,  113,  128. 
Iceland,  Reformation  in,  157. 
Inquisition,  The,  247. 
James  V.,  202. 
Junius,  Francis,  253. 
Johnston,  Professor  Alexander, 

272. 
John  III.,  Pope  at  calling  of  the 

Council  of  Constance,  28. 
Knox,    John — early    life,    203 ; 

aids    George    Wishart,    204; 

teaching  at  St.  Andrews,  204; 

prisoner    in     French    galley, 

204;  reformation  leader,  205; 

at  Geneva  with  Calvin,  205 ; 

in    Scotland,    206;  _  prepares 

Calvinistic    confession,     206; 

contest    with     Queen     Mary, 

207;    closing  days  of  his  life, 

208;    home  life,  268. 
Langton,  Bishop  of  Winchester, 

47. 
Latimer,  Hugh,  176,  180. 
Latin.  Use  of,  34. 
Learning,  Revival  of,  40. 
Learning,    New,    11,    184,    194, 

238. 


Index. 


285 


Leo  X.,  94,  118,  125. 

Lefevre,  Jacques,  238. 

Linsday,  Thomas  M.,  150,  154, 
162,  176,  187,  197,  201,  227, 
233,  261,  274. 

Lollards,  52,  202. 

Lutheranism,  spread  of,  156-158. 

Lutheran  Church  in  United 
States,  276-278. 

Lutheran  Ritual  and  Polity,  149. 

Lutlier,  John,  54,  61. 

Luther,  Margaret,  64. 

Luther,  Martin — affixes  Theses 
against  Indulgences  on 
church  door  at  Wittenberg,  i, 
6;  parentage  and  birth,  54; 
boyhood  and  student  days,  55- 
59;  spiritual  struggles,  60-62; 
enters  monastery,  62-65 ; 
friendship  with  Staupitz,  66; 
ordained  as  priest,  67 ;  work 
as  professor  of  divinity,  68; 
visit  to  Rome,  69-72;  made 
doctor  of  divinity,  72  ;  friend- 
ship with  Spalatin,  T^  ;  power 
as  a  lecturer,  74;  promulga- 
tion of  theses,  80;  opening 
conflict  with  Rome,  82;  lit- 
erary fecundity,  84;  the 
Theses  against  Indulgences, 
93 ;  suit  brought  through  Tet- 
zel,  94 ;  dispute  with  Eck,  96 ; 
pursued  by  Rome,  97 ;  heresy 
trial  reopened,  99;  utilizes 
printing  press,  loi ;  burning 
of  Pope's  Bull,  104;  at  the 
Diet  of  Worms,  106;  at  the 
castle  of  Wartburg,  114;  be- 
gins translation  of  Bible,  116; 
clandestine  visit  to  Witten- 
berg, 120;  return  to  Witten- 
berg, 123;  peasants'  war,  127; 
spread  of  Lutheran  faith, 
135  ;  differences  with  Zwingli, 
138-141 ;  relation  to  Augs- 
burg Confession,  145 ;  closing 
years  of  his  life,  149;  illness 
and   death,    151 ;     home   life, 


152;  personality  and  charac- 
ter, 154;  home  life  262-265; 
hymn  in  memory  of  Nether- 
land  martyrs,  247;  hymn 
writer,  72,   107. 

Lyons,  Poor  Men  of,  9. 

Mary,  Queen,  daughter  Plenry 
VIIL,   185-187. 

Mary,  Queen. of  Scots,  202,  203, 
207. 

Mary,  Sister  Charles  V.,  248, 
249. 

Marburg  Coloquy,  140. 

Margaret  of  Navarre,  239. 

Maximilian,  Emperor,  98. 

Maurice  of  Saxony,  147. 

Medici,  Catherine  de,  241,  242. 

Mendicant  Friars,  13. 

Melanchthon,  Philip — professor 
at  Wittenberg,  95;  Luther's 
message,  106;  consultation 
with  Luther,  120,  122;  rela- 
tion to  Zwingli,  139;  prepares 
Augsburg  Confession,  144; 
friend  of  Calvin,  151 ; 
preaches  funeral  sermon  of 
Luther,  155;  last  days,  156; 
moral  leadership,   158. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Churches, 
279-281. 

Middle  Ages,  Conditions  in,  7, 
86. 

Milman,  Henry  Hart,  21,  22,  27. 

Monasteries,  Dissolution  of, 
177-179. 

Moravian  Church,  30,  275. 

More,  Thomas.  42,  169,  170,  173. 

Motley,  John  Lothrop,  249,  250, 
258,  259. 

Munzer,  Thomas,  127,  129-131. 

Netherland  Martyrs,  252,  255. 

Netherlands,  Reformation  in, 
246-261. 

Norfolk,  Duke  of,  181. 

Northumberland,  Duke  of,  182, 
183. 

Norway,  Reformation  in,  157. 

Nuremberg,  Diet  of,  125. 


286 


Index. 


Occam,  William  of,   16,   19. 

Oecolampadius,  John,  216. 

Oxford  University,  16,  21. 

Papal  Power,  Abuse  of,  89. 

Paris,  Matthew,  17. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  195,  199. 

Peasants'  War,  127-133. 

Philip  II.,  250-252,  255,  259,  270. 

Philip  of  Hesse,  135,  I37,  138, 
150. 

Pilgrim  Fathers  of  Reforma- 
tion, 10. 

Pole,  Cardinal,  199. 

Prague,  Jerome  of,  28. 

Prayer  Book,  Church  of  Eng- 
land, 182. 

Printing  Press,  Invention  of, 23. 

Presbyterianism  in  France,  240. 

Presbyterian  Churches  in 
United  States,  273,  274. 

Protestant,    Origin    of    Term, 

137. 

Puritan  England,  161-200. 

Puritan  Emigration  to  New 
England,  271. 

Puritan  Founders  of  United 
States,  272,  274. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  270. 

Reformation  to  a  large  extent 
not  only  a  religious  but  secu- 
lar revolt,  33. 

Reformation  Conditions — Edu- 
cational, Social,  Industrial 
and  Moral  in  the  Sixteenth 
Century,  38. 

Reformed    Churches,    Rise    of, 

163;    in  Netherlands,  261. 

Reformed  Church  in  New  York 
and  Vicinity,  270. 

"Religious  Peace"  arranged  at 
Diet  of  Augsburg  (1555),  155. 

Roberts,  W.  H.,  273. 

Robinson,  J.  H.,  39. 

Rogers,  John,  188. 

Roman  Church  —  Control  of 
secular  affairs  in  Middle 
Ages,  88 ;  internal  corruption, 
89;  preserved  the  essential 
truths  of  Christianity,  91. 


Roman  Empire,  Holy,  5. 

Savonarola,  42. 

Schmalkaldic  League,   145,  I49- 

Scotus,  Duns,  16. 

Scotland,  Reformation  in,  201- 

208. 
Seebohm,  Frederic,  51,  114,116, 

132,  217. 
Servetus,  Trial  and  Death  of, 

Sickengen,  Franz  von,  128,  129. 

Singmaster,  J.  A.,  277. 

Somerset,  Duke  of,  182,  183. 

Spalatin,  George,  120,  107,  120, 

Speyer,  Diet  of  (1526),  125; 
(1529),  136. 

Stanley,  Dean.  Description  of 
transition  from  age  of  Apos- 
tles to  medieval  times,  3. 

Staupitz,  Vicar-General  of  the 
Augustines,  65,  66,  72,  75,  94, 
99- 

Storch,  Claus,  119. 

Sweden,  Reformation  in,  157. 

Swiss  Free  Government,  211. 

Switzerland,  Reformation  in, 
209-216. 

"Table  Talk,"  Luther's,  153. 

Taine,  H.  A.,  Extract  from,  23. 

Tetzel,  John,  Work  and  Char- 
acter of,  77-80. 

Thirtv  Years'  War,  157. 

Trebonius,  John,  58. 

Trent,  Council  of,  no,  181,  242, 
252. 

Tribunal,  "Bloody,"  255. 

Tyndale,  William,   172,   177. 

United  Brethren  in  Christ,  279. 

United  States,  Historical  Rela- 
tion of  Reformation  to,  269- 
281. 

United  Evangelical  Association, 
279. 

Universities  of  Middle  Ages,  12. 

Utopia  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  51. 

Utrecht,  Treaty  of,  260. 

Vassy,  Massacre  of,  242. 

Voes,  Henry,  247. 


Index. 


287 


Waldo,  Peter,  8,  238. 

Waldenses,  9,  238. 

Walsingham  (Roman  Catholic 
historian),  22. 

Warham,  Archbishop  of  Can- 
terbury, 47, 

Wesley,  John,  32,  279-281. 

Wiclif,  John,  17,  18,  21-25,  35, 
162,  202. 

William,  Prince  of  Orange, 
250-263. 

Williams,  Roger,  271. 

Wishart,  George,  203,  204, 

Wolmar,  Melchar,  222. 

Wolsey,  Cardinal,  167,  171. 

Wittenberg  Conference  (1536), 
150. 


Wykeham,  William  of,  21. 

Wyttenbach,  Thomas,  210. 

Zwilling,   121,   124. 

Zwingli,  Ulrich — chief  founder 
Reformed  Churches,  209; 
early  life,  209;  influenced  by 
Wyttenbach,  210 ;  parish 
priest  at  Glarus,  210;  at 
Zurich,  211;  disputation  at 
Berne,  212;  marriage  with 
Anne  Reinhard,  213;  pub- 
lishes Commentary  on  the 
True  and  False  Religion,  213; 
The  Marburg  conference, 
214 ;  death  on  the  battle  field, 
215 ;    home  life,  267. 


Books  By  EHas  B.  Sanford,  D.D. 
Published  By  S.  S.  Scranton,  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. 

Origin  and  History  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
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is  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America. 
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to  Christ,  as  our  Lord  foretold.  Of  this  body  the  founder  and 
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contains  many  historic  documents  and  other  material  of  great 
value  in  this  connection.  Dr.  Sanford's  history  should  be  in  the 
library  of  every  minister  and  of  every  Christian  la3^man." — The 
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not  when  we  aim  to  speak  one  shibboleth  but  when  we  work  and 
pray  together  until  the  Spirit  melts  us  and  we  use  one  alabaster 
box  to  honor  Christ.  The  goal  is  not  in  soft-voiced  expressions 
of  fraternal  good  will  but  in  common  service  as  courageous  as  it 

is  unselfish Is  it  believed  that  the  parables  of  the  seed 

and  the  leaven  have  yet  to  be  fulfilled?  As  we  read  in  the  lines 
and  between  the  lines  of  this  remarkable  book  we  will  be  more 
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Books  By  Elias  B,  Sanford.  D.  D. 
Published  By  S.  S.  Scranton,  Company,  Hartford,  Conn. 

is  entitled  to  high  honor  in  his  own  country.  With  large-hearted 
generosity  he  pays  just  tribute  to  noted  colaborers  and  furnishes 
almost  a  battle  roll  of  the  noblest  men  and  women  of  the  past 
and  present  century." — The  Christian  Work,  New  York. 

"Dr.  Sanford's  wide  personal  acquaintance  with  the  denomina- 
tional leaders  who  helped  achieve  the  organization  of  the  Coun- 
cil ;  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  events  and  movements  that 
led  up  to  it,  and  his  popular,  familar  style  of  telling  about  all 
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tianity is  very  beautiful." — Brooklyn  Daily  Bagle,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y. 

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is  fortunate  his  life  has  been  preserved  and  his  health  restored 
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Mo. 

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and  is  a  very  superior  work  of  its  kind.  It  is  edited  with  great 
care,  good  judgment,  and  discrimination." — Lutheran  Observer. 


Books  By  Elias  B.  Sanford,  D.D. 
Published  By  S.  S.  Scranton  Company,  Hartford.  Conn. 

"To  the  seeker  after  knowledge  it  is  a  splendid  and  surprising 
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wanted  in  every  library,  and  every  intelligent  home." — Lutheran 
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"In  research  and  information,  it  is  all  that  could  be  desired  as 
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"One  has  a  library  here  in  a  single  volume." — Iowa  Church- 
man. 

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ters are  clear,  terse,  and  comprehensive,  and  present  a  graphic 
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Boston. 


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